A bad hearing, followed by a mad scramble for signatures, followed by disingenuous fiscal note by the Office of Administrator of Courts, followed by egregious mismanagement of Senate floor sessions – including the need to revote time consuming and controversial bills – all conspired against the Vulnerable User bill. Despite broad support and the votes necessary for passage, the bill died in the Senate at cutoff on February 16.

Thank you to everyone who worked hard for the Vulnerable User Bill. You testified, you made phone calls, you emailed, you wrote letters. The issue won’t go away, and we made significant progress over last year, but that’s little comfort to the hundreds of families who will suffer grief and loss, and continue to ask: “Is this justice?”

The vulnerable user bill faces a critical deadline today, the cutoff date for bills to be passed by the Senate before traveling to the House.  Senate leaders are working frantically in the Capitol (and on TVW) to get their bills passed by this body so that they don’t “die.”

Because of the large volume of bills, we need Senate leaders to know that SB 5838 is a priority.

Do you have two minutes to call your senator’s office?  Please tell him or her how important it is to you that the Vulnerable User Bill move forward.  You may leave a message with a legislative aide or a voice mail.  Encourage your senator to ask leadership to bring SB 5838 to a vote on the Senate floor.

You can look up your state senator using this link.

Sen. Adam Kline chairs the Judiciary and has been particularly helpful in moving the bill forward, and Sen. Joe McDermott is the bill’s prime sponsor.   Please share your appreciation!  And if your senator is one of the bill’s other sponsors, please say thank you: Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Sen. Darlene Fairley, Sen. Ed Murray, and Sen. Ken Jacobsen.