A bill authored by 14th District Rep. Gina Mosbrucker that closes a loophole in state law that has allowed felony domestic repeat offenders to go unsupervised was signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Jay Inslee.
House Bill 2048 will ensure the Department of Corrections (DOC) supervises repeat domestic violence offenders and protects survivors from being stalked and abused.
“The most dangerous times in a domestic violence survivor’s life are when they try to leave their abuser and when that offender has been released from custody. That is when these survivors need the most protection,” said Mosbrucker, R-Goldendale.
The bill passed the House and Senate unanimously. It would remove the words “pleaded and proven” as a requirement before the supervision of domestic violent offenders could be enacted.
“This measure helps ensure supervision for the felon and safety and healing of the survivor,” Mosbrucker added.
Two fentanyl-related bills Mosbrucker wrote also gained unanimous passage from both the House and Senate and are on the governor’s desk, awaiting his signature.
House Bill 2396, also known as “Ivan’s Law,” creates an outreach educational program on the dangers of fentanyl. It also requires jails that release individuals from custody to provide information about treatment programs related to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Plus, it has the state Department of Health compile resources on how to decontaminate fentanyl residue and other synthetic opioids from motor vehicles.
Mosbrucker wrote the law after holding community meetings last year in Goldendale, Toppenish, and Yakima, on the deadly and addictive drug and its impacts.
“I talked to hundreds of people, some in a tent, some on a reservation, some in my hometown, and learned a lot about fentanyl. I heard hours and hours of heartbreaking stories,” said Mosbrucker.
The bill is named after 24-year-old Ivan Howtopat, a Yakama Nation tribal member, who was suffering from fentanyl withdrawal when he committed suicide in the Klickitat County jail last May.
House Bill 1635 would create a model program in Washington for the training and certification of dogs to detect fentanyl.
“Currently, only one dog in the state of Washington is certified and trained in the detection of fentanyl,” said Mosbrucker. “This bill would help to expand the training of K-9 teams to detect fentanyl and protect human lives.”
A fourth bill, Senate Bill 5919, concerning the sale of biogenic carbon dioxide and other co-products of biogas processing has also been delivered to the governor. Mosbrucker originally introduced this measure as House Bill 2069. The bill would allow the Klickitat County Public Utility District to sell clean biogenic carbon dioxide gas captured from the Republic Landfill. Mosbrucker’s bill passed the House unanimously on Feb. 12 and passed out of the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee on Feb. 20. However, the bill was held on the consent calendar in the Senate. An identical companion bill with Mosbrucker’s language passed from the House and became the vehicle to go to the governor’s desk for consideration.
The governor has until March 30 to act on bills delivered to him. Regular session bills go into effect on June 6, 90 days after the Legislature adjourned.
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