The biggest thing YOU can do right now if it's even remotely possible is to show up at the hearing on the Senate companion bill on Wednesday.



This is generally the kind of thing I jump at in a heartbeat, but unfortunately I personally will NOT be able to attend the hearing to testify.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

The same diehards show up at these meetings to do the heavy lifting. Here's YOUR chance to take a bit of the burden off their shoulders. If at all possible please attend and sign in SUPPORTING the bill. Better yet take a few minutes to jot down some notes and sign up to TESTIFY in support of the bill.

We all know Blake has no intention of hearing the original HB 1660 in committee. If this thing passes the Senate with bipartisan support, it will be much more difficult politically for Blake to ignore when it comes back to the House the second time around.

The scheduled public hearing is on Feb 18, this Wednesday, at 1:30 PM in Olympia. This is in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Parks. This is in the John Cherberg Building, 304 15th Ave SW, Olympia

_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Above per a request by Francis.

If anyone wants to listen in, TVW will have the hearing videotaped.

http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwschedule#date=2015-02-18&time=13:00

SB5844 sits right in the middle of the agenda ( 5th of 11 bills) to be heard over the course of about 2 hours starting at 1:30PM

Only 5 senators in attendance.

Camera angle does not show total public attendance but all the front seats are taken, so I suspect it's a pretty full room.

I'm watching from the overflow room which is also packed. Lots of folks here.

It's packed with quite a few folks in the overflow room

I stopped by and it was pretty busy. I didn't stick around but it was tough to judge who was there for which bill. Lots of fisher people were there for sure though.

Couple of things. First Rep Blake & Senator Hatfield have been out actively recruiting to get commercial ( and anyone else they can ) to appose both the Senate & House bills. Second while many might think this is wrong it is the politics of the state legislature. Hell WDF&W has elevated it to a art form getting citizens to put forth things they want.

Does not bother me much as they are elected legislators and it clearly shows their true intent and that is a plus. As this debate and future ones develop they cannot baffle with BS but have to defend their positions in the public view and that is good!

Lots of folks attended, with a strong anti-wolf coalition also present to testify on those bills.

My personal thanks to ALL who showed up for the rest of us who couldn't (wouldn't?)... it takes a village.

If TVW presents the bills as addressed by the committee--- SB 5844 will be the last one on the broadcast.
Many showed up and since there was 12 bill being heard testimony was cut to one minute per person.
It appears that those that testified were split pretty evenly between pro and con.
When the clock struck 3:30 PM the hearing was closed leaving many that attended unable to testify.

I was there.

Both rooms were packed, there were 42 people signed up to speak, they didn't get through too many before time ran out. They did split the speakers on each side. Didn't say what the split was on attendees though.

There were long lines to sign in, and some of the computers were running very slow, mine crashed and I had to go back during the meeting to sign in.

I attended the hearing and I've never been more disenchanted with representative government than this afternoon. Sign in was a joke. A couple of computers out in the hall. Long lines and old folks with no computer savvy. People were trying to sign in using smart phones; they were struggling. Lots of people took one look at the line and walked on by, not getting to register their position on any bill being heard today. There was no seating left in the main hearing room, so I took a seat in the nearly full overflow room.

I arrived early for the 1:30 hearing. Sometime around 2:40 they got to Senate Bill 5844. At least two of the senators on the committee were absent. Senator Rivers did a good job of introducing SB 5844 with facts and light humor. She was quickly challenged by a dour Senator Chase and a doubtful Senator Hatfield. Chase commented that sport fishing didn't bring in new money, but just "churned" existing monies. Hatfield complained that sportsmen didn't spend their money in Ilwaco, but bought their gas and other necessities elsewhere. He told the story of a commercial fisherman who had committed suicide because he couldn't handle the changing fishery. So much for an open and impartial hearing...

The rest of the hearing was fairly balanced testimony alternating between the proponents and opponents of SB 5844. It was apparent that no amount of factual information was going to change the opinion of a couple members of the committee. It was also evident in the testimony of several of the opponents that home schooling is a bad idea, if you're going to be home alone most of the time.

I think everyone on either side of the issue had prepared for their three minutes of fame. At the last moment it was announced that those giving testimony would only have one minute to present their information. It's difficult to condense already edited material that much while you're on the fly and testifying in front of a Senate Committee. That impacted a number of those testifying. I felt a couple of key talking points for the "sporties" were left out. There was little time to challenge something that had been said earlier in testimony.

You can watch the hearing on the link Eyefish provided. Be sure you wear your barn boots and have a cup of highly caffeinated beverage in hand.

Thanks to all who showed up and represented us. Keep pushing, at least by the end of this we'll know who our friends are in Olympia.

" it takes a village"

Oh please, Hillary, gag me with a spoon.

Good effort and great attendance. We've had various committees cut short comments in both time and speakers before, so it isn't an uncommon practice. Frustrating for sure though.

In attendance yesterday for SB 5844

Pro-- 23 signed in to testify + 41 signed in =64 in attendance “pro”
Con--19 signed in to testify + 15 signed in =34 in attendance “con”

Senator Chase's comment on "churned money" was odd, only because churned money generates tax revenues, which politicians tend to enjoy.

You can track the bill in the link below. You can also send comments on the bill by checking the comment box.

You can also do the same for HB 1660. Just type in 1660 in the bill number box.


http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5844&year=2015

It was pretty crazy. The room for testifying was not a large room. They said they had rooms A,B,&C for overflow. Three rooms!

I testified for PSA for the bill. Had my speech set up for 3 minutes. Spent most of time trying to whack it down to fit in the adjusted 60 second time frame. So do you rattle it off so fast no one can absorb it or try to pick several items that will come across better? Senator Chase seemed like she was going to have a rebuttal with anyone that spoke on the sports side in the beginning until Senator Pearson said something. Senate Natural Resources might be a little tough on issue going forward with Chase and Hatfield for recreational issues, which I was afraid of.

We had lots of conversations with all outside afterwards as I have worked with all parties at times on fisheries issues. We can always agree to disagree and move on. We will still be working on fisheries issues in the future.

Having the wolf mixed in always turns up the heat.

Does anyone know what the next steps for the bill are?

nm - found it in the other thread

Drop dead dates are extremely important....

http://leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/cutoff.aspx

If this thing doesn't move by Mar 11 (2 weeks) it's dead for the session.

Pretty sure both the HB and SB are dead for this session. Looks like they needed to be out of their respective committees by 2/20, since they are policy and not budget related.

Maybe someone "in the know" can confirm or deny?

dead