House Republicans provide updates on bills relating to public safety and crime | Jan. 29, 2024

hi state representative Jim Walsh here at the Capal in Olympia with my great colleagues representative Gina Moss Breer and representative Jenny Graham and we are here today to talk about some bills that that Gina and Jenny have dealt with that have to do with crime and and Public Safety and some really bad ideas that some of our colleagues are putting forward about what they consider are reforms but really don't make this state safer a better place to live and Gina you're the ranking member on that committee tell everybody what happened today what you were able to knock down and what is still getting through certainly thank you well it's about making sure that we uh keep people safe right at the end of the day we want to make sure that Community safety is is a priority for everyone and what we've seen is that crime has especially violent crime is rising and we've seen that over 40% the latest data on people who are testifying are getting out of prison under State V Blake and other less restrictive Alternatives and they're in our communities and so I do think that there's a Nexus between crime rising and US letting people out of prison these people have been convicted by a jury of their peers these people have had a chance to prove that they did not commit the crime however they did and they should be accountable for their crimes is our argument today we had a series of 12 bills five of them were the worst bills I've seen in a decade being a legislator so we were and that's bad that's very bad bad very bad so we were very prepared and we went into committee to fight those bills and to vote no and three of them were pulled down so at the last minute they didn't want to face the fact that that you shouldn't let sex offenders be and serve on a government task force for sex for sex crimes that that that's a little too much lived experience right we don't think that you should represent in that way so that one there were there were numerous bad bills and also erasing all the juvenile points um if they're under certain ages if they've committed a murder then that would just go away and we would never know that and so they're saying that the brain is developed um or it's not we have to decide and we're really asking that they would decide that because they're saying if you're under 21 or 24 or 25 it changes then your brain's not developed at the same time in state government they're saying 16y olds should be willing they should be able to vote so which is it is it 16 is it 25 right right so just fighting those bills we had 1396 today that one did get through and we it has to do with first degree aggravated murder so this is a crime that you get charged with if you kill a police officer if you kill a firefighter if you kill a paramedic this is one when you have a deadly weapon and this bill um as passed if it continues to move through the session would let those out that are under 21 they'll be able to petition and to walk back out on the street after committing those crimes because their brain wasn't developed at 21 today so yeah Welcome to our world Gina Gina you did Gina did a great job playing some little uh legislative chess here they offered her the chance to try to amend these bad bills to make them less bad she said no she and Jenny held strong and they pulled them down those bills are gone or at least we hope they're gone for now so they did the right thing they basically called The Bluff of the other guys and that's really that's highlevel legislative work to know when to engage and when to say no I'm not going to make a deal on this bad Bill and they called the right thing here and were able to knock some of those bad bills down and and Jenny you're known as one of the fiercest advocates for victims and victim rights here what did you see happening there well I did stand up very strongly today for the Crime Victims that are there's victim shaming that's going on and there's victim silencing going on if you don't automatically jump on board with forgiving a murderer a rapist armed robbery just horrific crimes and if you don't if you're not in the camp of step into their shoes because they had something bad happen in their life haven't we all haven't we all I will put out there that at 19 18 I didn't list into the military at 19 I was serving my country does that mean my brain wasn't formed enough to be able to make that decision uh I will and I'd also like to make the very strong point that there is an international language of Tears screaming crying begging bleeding please don't hurt me please don't kill me and that is the same in every language there's no way that they don't understand that when they're actually committing that crime you there's no way that they don't know that and I think that it's wrong that that's not being acknowledged I think that we are putting out a dangerous message to young people right now I've heard this over and over again look at the young kids now that are stealing cars committing horrific crimes carjackings why because the message is out they're not going to do anything about it our our police officers hands are tied our Court's hands are tied our parents' hands are tied for crimey sake this is ridiculous H there's a reason why we have skyrocketing murder skyrocketing violent crime and it's these it's these uh crime uh the criminal friendly bills that are coming out of the people's house that are not putting our safe and clean neighborhoods first first crime victim's rights don't stop just because some uh because somebody that chose not to pay attention and respect our laws committed a crime against them and that's what I see happening right now is we're only paying attention to the people that are making a choice to commit these crimes not taking responsibility for what they've done and the other problem that we have also when it comes to Rehabilitation okay that usually requ ire somebody apologizing taking responsibility for what they've done and I'm sorry does not work when they turn right around and they do it again they're leaving more Crime Victims in their wake more dead bodies that's that's not Rehabilitation that's EMB that is enabling emboldening and rewarding de deadly and dangerous behaviors that our families businesses and communities are paying for M good point this is this is what we're dealing with on an ongoing basis here at the capital in in the Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee where I'm the ranking member we have a bill that we're going to try to improve or maybe knock down house bill 1445 that gives the State Attorney General basically a license to interfere with every law enforcement agency in the state nominally hunting after bad cops but really a it's a blank check to get interfere with any Police Department or Sheriff's Department anywhere in the state you know and we do a good job of of of playing the chess game and knocking down some of these bad bills but what we really need to change here in the capital is we need to change what side of the field we're playing on we need to get to the place where we're not happy we knock down bad bills but where we're actually passing bills that help make neighborhoods safer help punish criminals more effectively and rehabilitate them more effectively than the bills we have now so what we need going forward is to change the the the frame of the conversation about public safety and crime and get back to that that positive Improvement in the safety of your neighborhood and our neighborhood and all the places where we live instead of just having to play this this good game of chess but on the defensive Crouch and we want to get to where we can be more productive positive in what we're doing not just playing defense all the time please pay attention to these committees please weigh in come in if you can and talk to your friends this these are kitchen table conversations that I'm asking you talk to your families talk to your friends talk to your church families your clubs this matters all of this stuff is local and it will eventually land at your doorstep in one way or another if we don't grasp hands and it really doesn't matter to me if somebody's Republican Democrat independent they don't vote I don't care because crime doesn't ask what political party you belong to or you don't this is a human issue we all of our families we need to put their safety first and I'm just grateful to be here to be able to do this hard work m and to have a strong voice that sometimes is really hard to have yeah anyway can't top that Gina Jenny it's great to work with you here all the rest of you we'll we'll update more soon as we go through this legislative session back to work back to work go team