Senate Bill 5615 Status

[schmedrickk]

Senate Bill 5615 has Passed the Senate Judiciary Committee

Reclassifying possession of forty grams or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a class 2 civil infraction

The website has not been updated as of this morning but I saw it on TV last night, the committee approved with a DO PASS vote

SB 5615 - 2009-10

schmedrickk Reviewed by schmedrickk on 02-19-2009. Senate Bill 5615 Status Senate Bill 5615 has Passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Reclassifying possession of forty grams or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a class 2 civil infraction The website has not been updated as of this morning but I saw it on TV last night, the committee approved with a DO PASS vote SB 5615 - 2009-10 :) Rating: 5

[tyler2319]

seriosuly they passed it? when does it take affect?ive been following that on the norml website so does this mean its decrimnalized how?

[schmedrickk]

We still have a ways to go before the bill is actually passed, we are only about 30% there so far. Here is the process, the bold line is where the Senate bill is today. But it also has to pass the House as well, more on that further down below.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

1. A bill may be introduced in either the Senate or House of Representatives by a member.

2. It is referred to a committee for a hearing. The committee studies the bill and may hold public hearings on it. It can then pass, reject or take no action on the bill.

3. The committee report on the passed bill is read in open session of the House or Senate, and the bill is then referred to the Rules Committee.

4. The Rules Committee can either place the bill on the second reading of the calendar for debate before the entire body, or take no action.

5. At the second reading, a bill is subject to debate and amendment before being placed on the third reading calendar for final passage.

6. After passing one house, the bill goes through the same procedure in the other house.

7. If amendments are made, the other house must approve the changes.

8. When the bill is accepted in both houses, it is signed by the respective leaders and sent to the governor.

9. The governor signs the bill into law or may veto all or part of it. If the governor fails to act on the bill, it may become law without a signature.

The website for this Bill has been updated today

SB 5615 - 2009-10


House Bill

Now for the not so good part. Rumor is the Chariman of the Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Committee is against the passing of the bills and will try to block it. He has said if it clears channels with the Senate he will hear it but that doesn't mean he will pass it. Hopefully the Senate will be able to force him to hear it, and there will be enough PRO voters behind it that they can override him. I am not all that up to speed on the Legislative process so I am not sure what all of the options are.

If you take a look at this website you will see the House Bill has been hung up in channels since January 14th.

HB 1177 - 2009-10


We're still alive but somewhat in Limbo at the same time


:stoned:

[seattlesmoke247]

This would be amazing, would take a lot of stress out of my life.

[gypski]

Great googa mooga good things are in the wind!!! :thumbsup: This is more like fining you for being stupid. :jointsmile: Now, if they would just take care of those drivers still talking holding a phone while driving. Far more dangerous then a cannabis smoker. $101 fine people!!!!

[JeremyM]

Here a link to the TVW footage of the original SB 5615 hearing

SB 5615 hearing starts 1:32 into it
http://www.tvw.org/media/mediaplayer...5293456&bhcp=1

Jeremy Miller
Olympia Patient Resource Center
2747 Pacific Ave SE Ste B-19
Olympia, WA, 98501
360-456-3517
http://www.olympiapatientresourcecenter.com
http://www.olyhempfest.com

[schmedrickk]

Nice, I found some more information on this. It appears only one Bill will go forward, and according to this, if the Senate passes their bill, the House will "typically" agree to it. I am still somewhat skeptical of this explanation but it sounds good anyway, lol


Q:â?�What happens to an approved Senate bill with respect to an identical House bill? If the House version is defeated, does the bill end?â?�

This is a great legislative process question. Let me rephrase it: What are companion bills and how do they work?


The usual legislative process is that either the House or Senate introduces a bill, they pass it, it goes to the other chamber, etc. etc. In this process, weâ??re talking about a single bill that goes back and forth between the chambers one chamber at a time.

Another common route is that two identical companion bills are introduced simultaneously. A representative introduces a House bill in the House (e.g. â??H.R. 1234″) and around the same time a senators introduces a Senate bill in the Senate (e.g. â??S. 5678″). This is useful because both chambers can consider the bill simultaneously, though they may end up proposing different sets of amendments and working up different consensuses.

The bottom line here to remember is that these two bills are, procedurally speaking, entirely separate. That means both have a life of their own, both could bounce back and forth between the chambers until one (or both!) are passed. (Of course, never would Congress actually pass two identical bills.) Both have a life of their own, and a death of their own. If one comes to a vote and is defeated, the other bill lives on. But, say it was the Senate version that was defeated, the House bill is probably not going to come up for a vote because our lawmakers know what will happen in the Senate: it will probably be defeated too.

Typically, the House and Senate will each vote on their own bills with a roll call vote. Then only one of the two bills is pushed forward. That bill goes to the other chamber. Say it was the Senate bill that goes forward: it then goes to the House. If the Senate bill remained identical with the House bill after any amendments both chambers may have made to their own bills, the House will then typically approve the vote via voice vote (or unanimous consent in the Senate), where the position of each Member is not kept: they are already on record on their own bill where they took a full vote. If substantial changes were made, they may or may not conduct a roll call vote.

If the House version is defeated, does the Senate bill die too? : GovTrack.us

:rasta:

[killerweed420]

Even if it don't pass its good to see more and more people are beginning to understand the governments demonization of cannabis and its slowly forcing change.

[Wolf420]

Ok so it's April now, what is up with these bills? Did they pass or no? I don't understand alot of the lingo on the links to the bills.

[jackmillions]

Ok so it's April now, what is up with these bills? Did they pass or no? I don't understand alot of the lingo on the links to the bills.

It died.

Here was what the bills were about:
Here's my quick read. This is a very simplified summary, and I don't play a lawyer on TV. All the points are in order, as they appear in the bill.

• Under 18, posession of less than 40 grams of MJ = misdemeanor.
• Over 18, posession of less than 40 grams of MJ = class 2 civil infraction (all other drug laws still apply i.e. making meth is very illegal MmmK).
• 2nd offense punishable by twice the normal sentence (I'm not sure if this also applies to minors in posession).
• Convictions that occured prior to passing of this bill will count as a first offense, except in such cases that the prior conviction was for posession of MJ less than 40 grams.
• This bill pretty much makes everything associated with MJ a class 2 civil infraction (as described above, less than 40 grams). That includes planting, growing, manufacturing, ingest, inhale, etc.
• It is still a misdemeanor to sell, give, trade, deliver, intent to deliver, etc MJ. No exemptions that I saw.
• It is a gross misdemeanor for a person to give MJ or paraphernalia to a person under 18, if the person giving it is 21 (technically 3 years older, so they could also mean a 16yo giving to a 12 yo). This makes sense, they want some protection for minors.
• Placing an advertisment for paraphernalia in any news publication is a misdemeanor (wierd one, maybe ads for "Tabacco water pipes" would ok hehe).
• Posessing sterile needles is ok (sounds like harm reduction items).
• Fine for class 2 civil infraction is $100.
• All money goes to a "criminal justice treatment account." I'm guessing this goes for things like treatment, special drug courts, etc, but I'm not really sure.

The rest is all about officer behavior in regards to other stuff, specifically when an officer can arrest, detain, act, etc. This does not seem to be targeted at MJ, rather officer behavior in general.

• When someone is commiting a misdemeanor.
• When a restraining order is violated.
• When a foreign protection order is violated
• When a 16yo, or older, assaults a family member.
• When specific traffic laws are broken (i.e. reckless driving, hit and run, etc).
• Reckless boating.
• When one officer sees traffic infraction, another officer may act upon the first officer's first hand knowledge.
• Indecent exposure.
• Anti-herassment order violation.
• When someone interfers with a medical clinic (I see this as directed to abortion protesters).
• Illegal posession of firearm.