Interest-Rate Reduction for Ex-offenders

Action: Please call or e-mail members of the Senate Rules Committee to pull HB-1359 out of rules and to the floor for a vote, and call or email members of the House Rules Committee to pull SB-5611 out of rules to the floor for a vote.  Each of these identical bills drafted by FCWPP has passed the other house, and one or the other simply needs to be brought to a vote in the second house in order to pass.  Friday is the deadline for passage of these bills.

Friends, FCWPP and you, as our supporters, have been working on this issue for several years.  It almost made it last year, so this year, with your calls and emails, may be the time.

See contact info for rules committee members below, as well as background on the bills below.

Senate Rules Members

Democrats
Brad Owen – Chair (D) 
Rosa Franklin – Vice Chair (D)

Lisa Brown (D) 
Mark Doumit (D) 
Tracey Eide (D) 
Karen Fraser (D) 
Mary Margaret Haugen (D) 
Adam Kline (D) 
Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D) 
Debbie Regala (D) 
Harriet Spanel (D) 
Pat Thibaudeau (D) 

Republicans

Mike Hewitt – Ranking Minority Member (R)

Luke Esser (R) 
Bill Finkbeiner (R) 
Jim Honeyford (R) 
Stephen Johnson (R) 
Linda Evans Parlette (R) 
Val Stevens (R) 
Joseph Zarelli (R) 

House Rules members

Democrats

Frank Chopp – Chair (D) 
Brian Blake (D) 
Judy Clibborn (D) 
Dennis Flannigan (D) 
Bill Grant (D) 
Zack Hudgins (D) 
Sam Hunt (D) 
Lynn Kessler (D) 
John Lovick (D) 
Dawn Morrell (D) 
Sharon Tomiko Santos (D) 

Republicans

Richard DeBolt – Ranking Minority Member (R)

Mike Armstrong – Asst Ranking Minority Member (R)

Glenn Anderson (R) 
Jan Shabro (R) 
Rodney Tom (R) 
Doug Ericksen (R) 
Joyce McDonald (R) 

All can be reached by phone through the legislative hot line during business hours:  
800-562-6000

In the Senate, special emphasis should be given to Senators Franklin, Kline, Regala who know the issue especially well and are strong supporters for the measure.

For GOP contacts it may do well to mention it is the Companion Bill to SB 5611 – Senator Esser’s bill, also sponsored by GOP members :  Brandland, Hewitt, McCaslin, Stevens, Zarelli.

In the House, special emphasis should be given to representatives Flannigan,  who has committed in the past to help on this and Lovick, Kessler, and Grant who are sponsors for the House version of the measure.

Background: HB-1359 has passed the Washington State House and SB-5611 has passed the Senate.  Although the wording of these two interest rate reduction bills for ex-offenders is identical, state law requires that either the Senate must vote favorably on the House  bill or the House must vote favorably on the Senate bill.

Talking points:

The bills are intended to reduce the interest rate charged ex-offenders for legal financial obligations from 12% to a rate equal to the current Treasury bill rate plus 2%.

The bill lessens the debt burden on ex-offenders, making it easier for them to pay restitution, their share to the victim’s assessment fund, and their financial sentence requirements.  Lowering their interest rate encourages them to pay and reduces the pressures and demoralization of debt that can lead to recidivism.

For details of HB-1359, see:
http://dlr.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/default.aspx?Bill=1359&year=2005

For details of SB-5611see:
http://dlr.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/default.aspx?Bill=5611&year=2005

Daniel Clark, Criminal Justice Working Group Chair
Roger Kluck, Lobbyist
Friends Committee on Washington Public Policy
206.856.4444
http://fcwpp.quaker.org