Source: Associated Press
Author: David Ammons
Pubdate" 18 Jan 1998

LAWMAKERS' SOCIAL-ISSUES AGENDA BRIMMING 

OLYMPIA (AP) -- Turning from the pomp and speechmaking of opening week,
Washington lawmakers this week confront a potpourri of tough social issues,
ranging from abortion and medical use of marijuana to ending no-fault
divorce and rolling back affirmative action. 

House and Senate members will spend long hours in committee rooms,
conducting public hearings and perfecting scores of bills on a dizzying
array of topics. Legislation must clear committee in the next three weeks. 

While budget, tax and transportation legislation continues to simmer,
dozens of social issues are bubbling up. 

A sampler of the measures being considered this week: 

- --MARRIAGE & DIVORCE. The Senate Law & Justice Committee on Tuesday will
consider bills to do away with no-fault divorce and to authorize "covenant"
marriages that would make divorce harder. Lawmakers have not yet scheduled
a hearing on measures to ban gay marriages and to forbid same-sex partners
to qualify for married student housing or other benefits. 

- --MEDICAL POT. A narrowly drawn bill to allow medical use of marijuana is
the subject of an unusual EVENING HEARING by the Senate Health & Long Term
Care Committee on TUESDAY. 

- --DRUNKEN DRIVING. A package of bills to crack down on drunken driving
continues through the Senate process. Most of the bills are in the Rules
Committee for scheduling of a full Senate vote. The House, meanwhile, is
moving more deliberatively, girding to look at the price tag and other
issues. Democratic Gov. Gary Locke's DUI package has been introduced in the
House. 

- --ABORTION. On the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade
decision, abortion will have high visibility this week. Locke and
abortion-rights advocates will take part in a series of events Thursday in
Olympia, Seattle, Spokane and Vancouver. Abortion foes will stage their
annual "March for Life" on Jan. 26. 

Anti-abortion forces soon will have hearings on bills to ban the procedure
critics call "partial-birth" abortion and to require advance notification
of a girl's parents before she gets an abortion. 

- --AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. Secretary of State Ralph Munro is expected to certify
Initiative 200 late this week. The measure would forbid preferential
treatment of minorities and women in government hiring, contracting and
college admission. Lawmakers can approve the plan or let the voters decide
this November. Hearings will be scheduled, but Republican leaders say it's
too early to tell what will happen. 

Monday is a state holiday to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King
Jr., the slain civil rights leader whose words are invoked by both
proponents and opponents of I-200. As usual, the Legislature isn't taking
the holiday off, but will move into its regular work after approving
resolutions honoring King. 

The week's committee hearings include a variety of other topics, including:

- --EDUCATION. Committees will take testimony on new bills to authorize
charter schools, independent state-funded schools that operate largely
without state regulation. A Senate panel will consider a plan to require a
notation in schoolbooks that evolution is just a theory. The House
Education Committee will spend three days on legislation to improve reading
and will consider parents' rights legislation and full-day kindergarten
programs. The House Higher Education Committee is considering a bill to
allow a student regent or trustee on college boards. 

- --RESOURCES. Lawmakers will consider bills dealing with watershed
management, regulation of storage tanks and other issues. 

- --SOCIAL & HEALTH. The House will take testimony on creation of a
Department of Children & Family Services, removing those programs from the
Department of Social and Health Services. Other panels are discussing
services for the developmentally disabled, migrant housing, group homes for
juvenile offenders and treatment of mentally ill offenders. 

- --ET CETERA. Other committee sessions are considering legislation dealing
with changing state computers by the year 2000, allowing rural counties and
their cities to opt out of growth-management planning requirements, banning
phone solicitations after 5 p.m., and planning for freight mobility
improvements. 

Copyright 1997 Associated Press