Description of Washington Investment Trust (HB 2434 & SB 5938)

• Creates the Washington investment trust as a legacy institution that amasses sufficient capital reserves to address opportunities now and in the future.
• Creates the Washington investment trust commission as the primary governing authority of the trust. 
•  Creates the trust transition board and the investment trust advisory board.
• Exempts the trust from payment of all fees and taxes levied by the state or any of its subdivisions.

Citizen's Custody Review Board (HB 2521)

Even though the Bill was cut-off, the possibility exists for a study to support future legislation (see last focus point), perhaps involving the Sentencing Guidelines Commission.

Description of the bill in a nutshell: 

• Establishes a citizens' custody review board authorized to determine whether individuals, whom society no longer needs to hold in prison for public safety, should be released from custody.
• Requires the department of corrections to: (1) Provide space in which the citizens' custody review board may meet and conduct its business; and (2) Provide clerical assistance.
• Provides that, except as otherwise restricted by federal law, an offender released pursuant to the act is subject only to the conditions of release established by the citizens' custody review board. 
• Requires the state institute for public policy to conduct a study of the effect of the act on recidivism and other outcomes.

What can be done - next steps: Meet with legislators to discuss how to best structure a study, how to access needed support, who should be involved, and how best to involve them.

   

Meet with legislators to discuss how to best structure a study, how to access needed support, who should be involved, and how best to involve them.

 

An open letter from Tom Ewell regarding SB 8014

1/29/2012

Friends,

For many decades Friends have challenged the military budget and the related military-industrial-complex. We have made this challenge because the cost of arms development and preparation for war - often without equal emphasis on diplomacy, support for development in poor and unstable countries, and increasingly without regard for international cooperation and support for peaceful prevention of deadly conflict in the first place - leads us ever further to becoming a nation of perpetual, expensive, wasteful and immoral war. More recently we have emphasized that while the Pentagon budget has increased substantially, domestic spending at the federal level - and thus to the states - has also decreased significantly as various crucial social services have been cut and infrastructural needs are neglected.
 

The Senate Joint Memorial Bill 8014 being heard this coming week in our Washington state Senate is our opportunity to speak up at the state level and to call for the state of Washington to raise its voice to demand a shift from our military budget to the crucial needs here at home.

The Friends Committee on Washington Public Policy (FCWPP) urges you to make a call, write a statement, attend the hearing, or in some way let your voice be heard on this important measure. Please contact the state senators listed below by Wednesday, February 1, (even if they are not your senators), urge them to pass Senate Joint Memorial Bill 8014 and encourage them to assertively call for an end to the war in Afghanistan, reduce military spending, and invest the savings in our domestic needs.

Senate Joint Memorial 8014 will be heard in the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections on Thursday, February 2, at 10:00 AM. This measure sends an urgent message from the entire Legislature and our State that Congress and the President should end the war in Afghanistan and shift our national priorities toward rebuilding the economy, creating living wage jobs, restoring social programs, and protecting the environment.  If you cannot attend the hearing, you can express your support for this resolution by contacting Senator Craig Pridemore, (49th leg District), the chair, and Senator Margarita Prentice (11th), the co-chair, with other members of the committee listed below.  Letters of support for the full committee can also be sent to Sharon Swanson, Committee Coordinator at sharon.swanson@leg.wa.gov .  Put “In support of Senate Joint Memorial 8014, End the Afghanistan War” in the subject line.   Please thank the Senate sponsor Sen. Maralyn Chase (32nd) and co-sponsor Sen. Rodney Tom (48th). The complete resolution is available at:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Joint%20Memorials/8014-Federal%20military%20spending.pdf

[Senate] Government Operations, Tribal Relations, & Elections

Pridemore, Chair (D) 49^th District; Vancouver - (360) 786-7696 begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting

Margarita Prentice, Vice Chair (D) 11^th District; Renton - (360) 786-7616 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 

Dan Swecker (R) ranking Minority Member; 20^th District, Rochester - (360) 786-7638 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Don Benton (R) 17^th District Vancouver - (360) 786-7632 begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting

Maralyn Chase (D) Sponsor of SJM 8083; 32^nd District; Shoreline - (360) 786-7662 begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting

Sharon Nelson (D;  34^th District; West Seattle, Vashon, Burien) - (360) 786-7667 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting    end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Pam Roach (R; 31^st District; Auburn) - (360) 786-7660 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting    end_of_the_skype_highlighting

AFSC and FOR ask for support for Senate Joint Memorial Bill 8014. This bill sends an urgent message from the entire Legislature representing us, and our State that:

“...Congress and the President change course by ending the war in Afghanistan: 

Dramatically shifting our national priorities to create stable jobs at living wages 

for all who seek employment; 

restoring vital social programs and public services; 

rebuilding our nation’s  deteriorating infrastructure; 

and putting our nation on an environmentally sustainable, ecologically responsible path 

that addresses the challenge of climate change and environmental degradation 

while reinvigorating jobs and our economy."

The original House Joint Memorial 4013 (resolution) is now in the House State Government & Tribal Affairs Committee. If passed in the Senate it will more than likely be passed in the House as well, where there are 15 legislative co-sponsors, led by Rep. Bob Hasegawa.

Please thank Representative Bob Hasegawa (11th), who led the way and obtained as co-sponsers:  Representatives Santos (37th), Kenney (46th), Goodman (45th), Ryu (32nd), Appleton (23rd) committee vice chair, Dunshee 44th), Pollet (46th), Ormsby (3rd), Pettigrew (37th), Stanford (1st), Takko (19th), Dickerson (36th), Reykdal (22nd), Hunt (22nd) committee chair, and Moscoso (1st).  You can identify your legislators at:  Find Your Legislators.

Members of House State Government & Tribal Affairs Committee who are co-sponsors are underlined above.  Others on the committee include

Taylor (15th) (360) 786-7874 begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting,,, - , ranking member

Overstreet (42nd) (360) 786-7980 begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting, assistant ranking member

Alexander (20th) LEG 426B (360) 786-7990 

Condotta (12th) LEG 122B (360) 786-7954 

Darneille (27th) JLOB 314 (360) 786-7974 

Hurst (31st) JLOB 335 (360) 786-7866

McCoy (38th) LEG 132A (360) 786-7864 

The Pentagon is eating 60 cents on every tax dollar in the federal discretionary budget. It’s time military spending took a serious hit. A far smaller military would make us far safer by not deploying forces around the world and getting us into wars we don’t need.

The 1994 U.N. Human Development Report on “Human Security” documented that the higher the ratio of military to non-military government spending was in a country, the more unstable and the more vulnerable its people were to lack of health and education.
 

WA taxpayers have, so far, given over $10 billion in taxes just for the war in Afghanistan, alone.

Thank you,

Tom Ewell, Clerk, Friends Committee on Washington Public Policy

and the FCWPP Legislative Committee

Feb 2, 10am Legislative Hearing on ending Afghan War and its Costs!

Senate Joint Memorial 8014, requesting a reduction in federal military spending and ending the war in Afghanistan, will be heard in the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections on Thursday, February 2, at 10:00 AM in the Senate Hearing Room #2,  Cherberg Building. 

Please click here to read an open letter from FCWPP Clerk, Tom Ewell.
This bill sends an urgent message from the entire Legislature and our State that Congress and the President should end the war in Afghanistan and shift our national priorities toward rebuilding the economy, creating living wage jobs, restoring social programs, and protecting the environment. The origin House Joint Memorial 4013 is in the House State Government & Tribal Affairs Committee. 

Please attend the hearing and testify in support, if you're able. 

If not, express your support for this resolution and for moving it through the committee by contacting Senator Craig Pridemore, the chair, and Senator Margarita Prentice, the co-chair, as well as other members of the committee.

 Please send the Committee an email:  Include in the Subject line “In support of Senate Joint Memorial 8014, End the Afghanistan War”.  Send to Sharon Swanson, Committee Coordinator at  sharon.swanson@leg.wa.gov

For more info contact: Nina Laboy - (206)355-4032  seattlerica@gmail. Ellen Finkelstein - (206) 661-3241  ellen@wwfor.   Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm - (509) 680-4212  kpruitth@gmail.com

Jan. 27 - 8am - Public Hearing on HB 2521 - Bringing Back Parole

ACTION ALERT!  HB 2521 takes the first steps toward bringing back parole in Washington state, and can begin to move the focus of criminal justice policy away from the knee-jerk "tougher laws, longer sentences" approach that has dominated policy for 30 years. If you can be in Olympia on Friday morning at 8:00 am, January 27, please come to Hearing Room D in the John L. O'Brien building on the Capital Campus. The House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee will be holding a public hearing on HB 2521.  Our main goal at the hearing is to demonstrate through our numbers and our testimony that there is a great deal of public support for a parole-like system, even though this bill is only a start.

Or, if you are unable to be in Olympia for the hearing, please contact your legislators expressing your support for bringing back parole, HB 2521.  It is especially important and helpful to contact representatives on the House Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness. They are listed here, including links to their legislative web pages where you may also send email messages.

Representative	Leg.District	Room	Phone
Hurst, Christopher (D) Chair	31	JLOB 335	(360) 786-7866
Ladenburg, Connie (D) Vice Chair	29	JLOB 309	(360) 786-7906
Pearson, Kirk (R)          Ranking Minority Member	39	LEG 122E	(360) 786-7816
Klippert, Brad (R)          Asst. Ranking Minority Member	8	JLOB 410	(360) 786-7882
Appleton, Sherry (D)	23	LEG 132F	(360) 786-7934
Armstrong, Mike (R)	12	LEG 425B	(360) 786-7832
Goodman, Roger (D)	45	JLOB 328	(360) 786-7878
Hope, Mike (R)	44	JLOB 466	(360) 786-7892
Kirby, Steve (D)	29	LEG 437B	(360) 786-7996
Moscoso, Luis (D)	1	JLOB 332	(360) 786-7900
Ross, Charles (R)	14	LEG 426A	(360) 786-7856

In general, you may call the State Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and your message will be passed on to your legislators from your address.  To find your district and legislators yourself, go to the "Find Your District" tab from http://www.leg.wa.gov/pages/home.aspx,  You may then email legislators using the formula firstname.lastname@leg.wa.gov .

HB 2521 is sponsored by Representatives Fred Finn (35th LD), Mary Helen Roberts (21st LD), Kathy Haigh (35th LD).  If they represent you, a quick note of appreciation is always appreciated.  

A LITTLE MORE ON WHY BRINGING BACK PAROLE MAKES SENSE:  A parole system could release individual men and women who've served substantial portions of their prison terms if they can clearly demonstrate, through their behavior record and their educational achievements in prison, that they have redirected their lives. Since our state did away with parole in 1984, there is currently no system designed to get the people out of prison who no longer need to be there.  

No public good is served by keeping people locked up who don't need to be in prison. It simply wastes lives and millions of tax dollars--at a time when we desperately need the money for programs that save lives.

So please either come to Olympia on Friday or contact your legislators about the parole bill! For more information on this issue, please go to People4Parole.org, the organization led by our former policy advocate, Carol Estes, which is devoted to bringing back the parole process.

Voting Rights for Ex-Prisoners: Secretary of State Adopts FCWPP Language for Voter Affidavit

Jan. 2012: Through persistent advocacy, FCWPP has finally been instrumental in convincing the office of the Secretary of State to revise the language on the ballot-envelope affidavit that has been misleading for ex-prisoners -- adopting essentially the language that FCWPP has recommended.

Success in changing public policy often requires monitoring the implementation of legislation, as well as working to pass it in the first place.  In 2009, lobbying by FCWPP and our allied organizations helped pass into law the restoration of voting rights to ex-prisoners.  Yet until now the affidavit on the ballot envelope, which every voter must sign under penalty of perjury, continued to include the statement that “I am not ineligible to vote due to a felony conviction.”  This statement gave the misleading impression that anyone convicted of a felony could not vote, contrary to the 2009 law.

Under the recent decision from the Secretary of State the declaration will be changed – starting with the 2012 Primary -- to a simple factual statement as proposed by FCWPP: “I am not under the authority of the Department of Corrections for a Washington felony conviction.” The law states that voting rights are restored after a prisoner is no longer under of the authority of the DOC.

For over two years, FCWPP lobbied the Secretary of State’s office, pointing out the discrepancy between the law and the ballot statement and advocating the language change.  In addition to correspondence and meeting with the Assistant Director of Elections, FCWPP drafted a letter to the Secretary of State and brought the issue to the attention of Rep. Mary Helen Roberts, who obtained the signatures of twelve members of the State Legislature in addition to that of FCWPP.  It appears that our arguments carried the day ... although it took a while before our contention that the ballot declaration was misleading was recognized.

FCWPP hopes that this change in the language in the affidavit will lead to increased numbers of ex-prisoners fulfilling their right to vote as restored in the 2009 law.  This symbol of participation in society by ex-prisoners is one step toward reintegration as productive citizens.  How appropriate that this news came to us on Martin Luther King Day!

Ending the Death Penalty - Public Hearing Jan. 25, 2012

Safe and Just Alternatives, (a campaign of the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the ACLU) is organizing a Lobby Day on January 25, the same day there is a hearing on a bill to end the death penalty in Washington State.

9 am: Gather at St. John’s Episcopal Church,
               114 20th Avenue SE, Olympia 98501
1:30 pm: Public Hearing, Senate Hearing Room, Cherberg Building
Free transportation available from downtown Seattle and downtown Tacoma.

If you can come, please register at the campaign website www.sjawa.org,  and Please wear white.
A Lobby Day Training session for this event will be at the WWFOR Office - Woodland Park Presbyterian Church, 225 N 70 Street, Seattle WA 98103 at 7:00pm on Wednesday January 18th (information on other training sessions is on the website www.sjawa.org).
For more information, contact Mishi Faruqee at 206.624.2184 or mishi@sjawa.org 

or Brenda Collier at 206.524.2505 or bmcbmc@earthlink.net.

Port Townsend Petition

We the undersigned citizens of Port Townsend and Jefferson County petition you to protect our right to know about safety risks associated with the West Coast’s major weapons transfer depot NavMag Indian Island by specifically objecting to the National Defense Authorization Act Section 1014: Treatment under Freedom of Information Act of Certain Department of Defense Critical Infrastructure Information.

The Department of Defense is attempting to nullify the outcome of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Milner v. Navy, decided on March 7, 2011.   The 8-1 decision by the Supreme Court addressed whether the Navy could withhold specific explosives information at NAVMAG Indian Island.  Explosives Safety Quantity Distance (ESQD) arc information is used for safety purposes.  The Navy released this same type of information for the Trident submarine base at Bangor, Washington. 

The Navy would like Congress to pass Section 1014 for two specific reasons involving NAVMAG Indian Island:

1. The Navy increased the amount of explosives at the explosives handling wharf by 33 percent in order to accommodate a larger type of container ship. If the Navy is out of compliance with rules regarding safe distances for explosive handling we have a right to know.

2. In the case of a burning ammunition ship the Navy’s plan is to tow the ship to a scuttling area near the center of Port Townsend Bay and sink the ship before it explodes. NMII is located a little more than two miles across open water from Port Townsend and a little more than a mile across open water from Port Hadlock and Irondale. How safe are we, our hospital, and our homes?

NAME                                     SIGNATURE                          ADDRESS

Port Townsend residents and other concerned citizens have been attempting to obtain documents from the Navy regarding safety risks associated with the weapons transfer depot at Indian Island.  Recently, they won a Supreme Court decision but the Navy has inserted into the Defense Authorization Act language that would nullify citizen access to this information.  The House has passed this bill and it is now pending in the Senate  The Navy may be out of compliance with rules regarding safe distances for explosive handling but if this bill is enacted into law citizens will be unable to document this.  A petition is being circulated to elected officials and the matter will be before the Jefferson County Commissioners this coming Tuesday, July 5 at 9AM at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Port Townsend. Congressional action is expected in early August. 

The petition is being circulated at the Port Townsend Co-op, Saturday Farmers' Market, and other venues in the area and copies are
 available from Doug Milholland of Port Townsend Friends.

Local political leaders act on Port Townsend Friends concern

The following resolution calling for cuts in military spending and specifically opposing the Bangor wharf expansion was composed and promoted by Port Townsend Friends. They brought it to the Jefferson County Democrats and it was adopted on June 28, 2011.

CUT MILITARY SPENDING:

DO NOT FUND THE EXPANSION OF THE EXPLOSIVES HANDLING WHARF AT NAVAL BASE KITSAP/BANGOR

WHEREAS, unprecedented budget deficits and national debt threaten the stability of our economic and social systems, and have already necessitated deep cuts to essential government services at every level of government; and

WHEREAS, only the U.S. military budget has thus far escaped such cuts and in fact has now risen to more than half of the federal discretionary budget, and accounts for almost half of ALL military spending worldwide; and

WHEREAS, a substantial portion of the military budget is dedicated to weapons programs the Pentagon does not require for current missions and/or which are not in compliance with international strictures against weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear weapons; and

WHEREAS, the new START Treaty, ratified in 2010, calls for a 50 percent reduction in nuclear launchers within the decade, and international policy since the original ratification of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1969, reaffirmed by President Barack Obama in his Prague speech of April 5, 2009, calls for the total elimination of these weapons as soon as practicable; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Navy, in clear contradiction of these policies and treaties, proposes to more than double the size of the explosives handling wharf facilities located at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor to service the Trident nuclear submarine fleet for another 30 years, at a cost estimated at $783 million;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that no funds should be allocated for this or any other project which seeks to expand or maintain at current levels the U.S. nuclear launching capacity; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that funding for all nuclear weapons programs, apart from those essential to the safe dismantling of the nuclear arsenal, be eliminated as soon as practicable, as an example and demonstration of good faith to the world; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Congress and President seek every possible avenue to cut the military budget to free funds for vital programs to rebuild a sustainable society and heal an ailing planet.

Port Townsend Minute and Queries on Cutting Funding for Nuclear Arms Programs

To the President and Our Members of Congress:   In the face of record budget deficits and debt, and with so many urgent demands placed on that overstrained budget, we call upon you to find strategic and sensible ways to make deep cuts in Pentagon spending.  The time has come to critically evaluate each program and to immediately slash or eliminate those that have outlived their relevance, or pose more peril than potential benefit.    First among these is the nuclear weapons program.   The recently concluded New START Treaty is, as its name suggests, a fresh beginning.  But it does not go nearly far enough towards permanently eliminating these horrific weapons of mass destruction.  As the leading nuclear power, the U.S. should vigorously take the lead down the road to nuclear disarmament—actively exploring every pathway towards the vision outlined in the President’s Prague speech of April 5, 2009—and not just wait for the clock to run out on this treaty before taking the next step.   Wasteful conflicts between planning, policy, and practice must be stopped.  A case in point: Despite the New START Treaty’s terms of reducing the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers by half by the year 2021 (and presumably further reductions under a successor treaty), the Navy is proceeding with plans to build an enormous new explosives handling wharf adjacent to its existing one at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor on the Hood Canal to continue to serve the Trident nuclear submarine fleet and arsenal of D-5 nuclear missiles at current levels until the year 2042­.  This is at an already-budgeted cost of $750 million, an amount that is expected to rise to more than $1 billion.    This is a serious disconnect between intention and action.  While we are working to reduce and then eliminate our nuclear arsenal, we are also reaching deep to keep it running at the same old levels for another thirty years.   Scrutiny of the arguments in favor of such “earmark” projects will reveal that their support is almost universally based not in strategic military thinking, but on the economic benefits to the community—the jobs created and the inflow of cash.  In the case of the Kitsap Bangor wharf, where the great majority of the speakers at a recent public hearing spoke against the project, the only proponents were Kitsap County Commissioners who wanted the construction business and the 20 permanent jobs that would come from it.   But if job creation were recognized to be the purpose, there are much more economically productive ways to accomplish that goal than to build an enormous new facility for submarines and missiles we soon plan to retire.   We ask you to be the kind of leaders our fragile and strained world needs right now—leaders of vision who will lead us to a world beyond war, so we may focus our energies instead on the urgent crises of poverty, dwindling resources, mass extinctions, deep indebtedness, and global climate change that the Pentagon itself has recognized as serious threats to our national security, and may ultimately threaten even our very survival.   With urgent hopes for your agreement,   Port Townsend Friends Meeting Deborah Lewis, Clerk   Contact: Stephen C. Evans Clerk, Peace and Social Concerns Committee Port Townsend Friends Meeting 2145 Ivy St. Port Townsend, WA  98368
*******
An open query letter:

In the hope that its publication on the FCWPP website will inspire other meetings to similar corporate efforts, we are submitting a minute/epistle recently adopted by the Port Townsend Friends Meeting calling upon our leaders to make deep cuts in Pentagon spending, with suggestions for specific cuts to the nuclear arms program.  

Here are the basic queries we considered in arriving at this result:  What tools do we as Friends have available to give witness to our Peace Testimony?  What can our meeting do to call our leaders to account for spiraling military spending and to press them to reverse the trend?  What specific military programs or weapons systems can we identify to propose for cuts or elimination? 

There is a general sense of deep frustration in our meeting, as I'm sure there is among Quakers and like-minded folks everywhere, that even as politicians of every stripe make a great show of hand-wringing over the enormous federal budget deficit, no proposals are on the table to scale back military expenditures--even when virtually every other government program has an axe hanging overhead, if it hasn't already fallen.  

This is despite the fact that military spending now stands at some 57 percent of federal discretionary spending (and rising), according to FCNL estimates. By contrast, Health and Human Services comes in second at six percent.

Although many of us have done quite a bit as individuals to lobby for reform, we came to realize that there was much more we could do in our corporate identity as a Quaker meeting.  We also realized we really will need to use every tool in the box if we are to have any effect against the powerful and well-lubricated military-industrial machine that continues to be very successful in pushing through multi-billion dollar proposals for weapons systems the use of which is inherently immoral, such as the Predator drones that so far have killed more than 300 innocents for each targeted victim (without ever putting an American at risk), or would involve a world-ending global cataclysm, as would be the case if we were ever to actual use, say, one Trident submarine's cargo of nuclear missiles.

Sincerely,

Steve Evans
Clerk
Peace and Social Concerns Committee
Port Townsend Friends Meeting

Port Townsend Friends Working for Peace - Cutting local military spending

The mission of the Friends Committee on Washington Public Policy is to express Quaker testimony and values in Washington State public affairs.  Most frequently, this has meant that FCWPP has lobbied in Olympia for state legislation related to those concerns.  But there are times when it is necessary to step into the national arena in order to address local concerns.  This is one such time.

Many of the state programs FCWPP has championed in the past are at least partially dependent upon federal funding.  In many cases, this dependency has increased in the face of state cutbacks.  Now, in the context of record budget deficits and runaway federal debt, federal funding for many social services is threatened as well. 

Only the military budget, already a full 57 percent of federal discretionary spending, has remained immune to the latest round of cuts, and in fact continues to grow.  Both out of concern for the impact of the cuts on our state’s social safety net and in keeping with the Quaker Peace Testimony, FCWPP calls for immediate deep cuts in military spending, and encourages Friends to do the same using all of the tools in the Quaker toolkit, from laboring with leaders at every level of government – including the local level -- to get them to speak out on this issue, to adopting formal minutes or epistles at Friends Meeting, as Port Townsend Friends Meeting recently did.  To read the Port Townsend minute/epistle, click HERE.

Note that the Port Townsend minute goes beyond a general call for slashing military spending to specifically target the nuclear weapons programs and the Navy’s proposed enormous expansion of its Trident nuclear explosives handling wharf at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor on the Hood Canal, at a cost initially estimated at $750 million.  Pointing to specific wasteful or needless projects in one’s own state and laboring with local public officials on such issues are far more effective than general calls to action.

Meetings are welcome to use all or any portion of the Port Townsend minute in crafting their own.

Stephen Evans

FCWPP Legislative Committee Member

Clerk of PTFM’s Peace & Social Concerns Committee

Port Townsend Friends working for Peace by cutting local military spending

The mission of the Friends Committee on Washington Public Policy is to express Quaker testimony and values in Washington State public affairs.  Most frequently, this has meant that FCWPP has lobbied in Olympia for state legislation related to those concerns.  But there are times when it is necessary to step into the national arena in order to address local concerns.  This is one such time.

Many of the state programs FCWPP has championed in the past are at least partially dependent upon federal funding.  In many cases, this dependency has increased in the face of state cutbacks.  Now, in the context of record budget deficits and runaway federal debt, federal funding for many social services is threatened as well. 

Only the military budget, already a full 57 percent of federal discretionary spending, has remained immune to the latest round of cuts, and in fact continues to grow.  Both out of concern for the impact of the cuts on our state’s social safety net and in keeping with the Quaker Peace Testimony, FCWPP calls for immediate deep cuts in military spending, and encourages Friends to do the same using all of the tools in the Quaker toolkit, from laboring with leaders at every level of government – including the local level -- to get them to speak out on this issue, to adopting formal minutes or epistles at Friends Meeting, as Port Townsend Friends Meeting recently did.  To see the Port Townsend minute/epistle, click HERE.

Note that the Port Townsend minute goes beyond a general call for slashing military spending to specifically target the nuclear weapons programs and the Navy’s proposed enormous expansion of its Trident nuclear explosives handling wharf at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor on the Hood Canal, at a cost initially estimated at $750 million.  Pointing to specific wasteful or needless projects in one’s own state and laboring with local public officials on such issues are far more effective than general calls to action.

Meetings are welcome to use all or any portion of the Port Townsend minute in crafting their own.

Stephen Evans

FCWPP Legislative Committee Member

Clerk of PTFM’s Peace & Social Concerns Committee

Port Townsend Friends Encourage Jefferson County to Oppose Nuclear Weapons and the Bangor Wharf Expansion

Jefferson County Democrats on Tuesday night June 28, 2011) adopted the attached resolution calling for cuts in military spending and specifically opposing the Bangor wharf expansion.

CUT MILITARY SPENDING:

DO NOT FUND THE EXPANSION OF THE EXPLOSIVES HANDLING WHARF AT NAVAL BASE KITSAP/BANGOR

WHEREAS, unprecedented budget deficits and national debt threaten the stability of our economic and social systems, and have already necessitated deep cuts to essential government services at every level of government; and

WHEREAS, only the U.S. military budget has thus far escaped such cuts and in fact has now risen to more than half of the federal discretionary budget, and accounts for almost half of ALL military spending worldwide; and

WHEREAS, a substantial portion of the military budget is dedicated to weapons programs the Pentagon does not require for current missions and/or which are not in compliance with international strictures against weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear weapons; and

WHEREAS, the new START Treaty, ratified in 2010, calls for a 50 percent reduction in nuclear launchers within the decade, and international policy since the original ratification of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1969, reaffirmed by President Barack Obama in his Prague speech of April 5, 2009, calls for the total elimination of these weapons as soon as practicable; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Navy, in clear contradiction of these policies and treaties, proposes to more than double the size of the explosives handling wharf facilities located at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor to service the Trident nuclear submarine fleet for another 30 years, at a cost estimated at $783 million;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that no funds should be allocated for this or any other project which seeks to expand or maintain at current levels the U.S. nuclear launching capacity; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that funding for all nuclear weapons programs, apart from those essential to the safe dismantling of the nuclear arsenal, be eliminated as soon as practicable, as an example and demonstration of good faith to the world; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Congress and President seek every possible avenue to cut the military budget to free funds for vital programs to rebuild a sustainable society and heal an ailing planet.

Urge the Governor to sign the Medical Marijuana bill - April 20, 2011

FCWPP Alert: 
Governor Gregoire is hesitating to sign the bill to regulate medical marijuana (SB 5073), which has passed both the House and the Senate, objecting that state employees might be prosecuted by the federal government for implementing the law.

Can you let the Governor know that you support a regulatory system for producing and dispensing marijuana for medical use -- a use that is already legal in Washington State?

The Governor can be contacted by phone at 360-902-4111 (TTY for hearing impaired 800-833-6388).  Contact her by email via the site: http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/default.asp.

As indicated in an earlier Alert, Washington State law now permits the medical use of marijuana, but does not provide an adequate way for it to be obtained for that purpose.  This bill fills that gap, but it does much more.

FCWPP supports the bill because it would establish the principle of regulation of marijuana and the authorizing of the infrastructure necessary to support its production and distribution.  It is a significant step in the direction of replacing prohibition of marijuana with legalization and regulation together with a public health model for its misuse.

Thanks for all your help.

Sam Merrill, Legislative Clerk
Steven Aldrich, Legislative Advocate
Friends Committee on Washington Public Policy (FCWPP)

Restore Cuts in Early Education; Eliminate Tax Exemptions - 4/13/2011

HB 2078 would restore cuts in early education by eliminating certain tax exemptions

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Regulation of Marijuana for Medical use - 4/13/2011

E2SSB 5073 would establish a regulatory system for producing, processing, and dispensing cannabis (marijuana) intended for medical use.

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Washington Investment Trust Revisited - 4/13/2011

The effort to establish the Washington Investment Trust -- discontinued earlier in this session -- is experiencing some degree of rejuvenation. A new budget-related bill, HB 2040, has been introduced.

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Support a Coal-Free Future for Washington - 4/13/2011

Support a Coal-Free Future for Washington

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A letter from our Legislative Advocate - March 30, 2011

Friends-

Although we currently tax physical fitness services, tanning salon services, and tattoo parlor services, we do not tax elective cosmetic surgery.

We also provide funding assistance for Washington seniors who lack the means to pay for prescription drugs necessary for their health and well-being. Most of the seniors in this group require financial assistance only for help with the copayments that exist in Medicare Part D. Without this assistance, these seniors lose the benefit otherwise available to them through Medicare Part D and suffer the compromised health consequences created when they cannot fill the prescriptions their doctors say they need.

How are these two issues related?

Current budgetary deficits have forced the people we elect to represent us in the state legislature to either find services to cut or find new sources of revenue. The easy cuts have all been made in response to several years of declining state revenues resulting from the economic recession that began in 2008. Now our legislators are forced to consider hard cuts like eliminating funding assistance for seniors who lack the means to pay for prescription drugs.

HB 2022 would require elective cosmetic surgery be taxed as physical fitness services, tanning salon services, and tattoo parlor services are currently taxed in order to generate revenue necessary to continue providing financially challenged seniors with the assistance they need to use their Medicare Part D benefits and to fill the prescriptions their doctors say they need.

While no one likes a new tax, we think taxing elective cosmetic surgery as similar services are currently taxed is better than forcing our older neighbors to go without their prescription drugs.

Action: Contact House Ways and Means Committee Chair Ross Hunter by phone or email (360-786-7936 or Ross.Hunter@leg.wa.gov respectively). Ask Representative Hunter to schedule HB 2022 for a public hearing so that low-income seniors will not suffer the health consequences of going without needed prescription drugs.

Thanks for all your help, and

Peace be with you, Steven Aldrich, MPA Legislative Advocate and Policy Analyst