The Government Relations Committee was comprised of Holly Gale and Lori Fossum, chair. This year, the committee monitored Washington state legislation affecting the printing and distribution of such primary resources as the Revised Code of Washington and also closely monitored budget legislation affecting the State Law Library.
The Washington Legislature’s 2011 Regular Session began on January 10th and adjourned April 22nd; the first Special Session of 2011 began on April 26th and adjourned May 25th. Several LLOPS members worked prior to the Session with the Statute Law Committee to help craft House Bill 1479, “Revising the publication requirements of the statute law committee.” Yet other members attended legislative committee hearings in support of the bill.
The Committee and other LLOPS members were especially concerned with proposed cuts to the State Law Library’s budget during this Session. Second Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1087 was ultimately passed, restoring the budget to a level at which the library will still be operational. Many LLOPS members and the AALL Government Relations office worked to restore the library’s allocation for the upcoming biennium.
Two LLOPS members, Tina Ching and Kay Newman, chaired the Washington Legal Inventory project: this inventory is our contribution to the development of the national inventory of primary legal resources at every level of government. Several LLOPS members also contributed their time and efforts to completing this inventory of state, county and municipal legal resources.
Respectfully submitted,
Lori Fossum
By L. Fossum
The Uniform Law Commission is currently holding its 2011 annual meeting in Vail, CO. Among the new uniform laws being considered is the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act, which purports to provide a clear answer to the question of who is the official publisher of a given governmental record, and how official publishers can authenticate the fact that a given electronic record is, in fact, the official record for citation and other purposes. A draft version of the Act is available here.
The Uniform Law Commission, in existence since 1892, is responsible for the drafting and passage of more than 200 uniform acts designed to solve problems common to all the states. Some examples are the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, and the Uniform Partnership Act. Just who are these commissioners? They are 350 practicing lawyers, governmental lawyers, judges, law professors, and lawyer-legislators from every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Washington has six commissioners (listed by state) here.
by Lori Fossum
HB 1479 was signed into law by the Governor last Friday, April 22, 2011 and will take effect 90 days after the Session’s adjournment. The new law will affect how the RCW, the WAC, and Washington state session laws are published and distributed. Also see the LLOPS Government Relations page for more information.
“The purpose of this act is to promote widespread access to legal and public information materials produced by the statute law committee in both digital and print formats while responding to a changing marketplace where sale of paper copies no longer supports the printing of copies intended for free distribution.”
–Chapter 156 section 1, Laws of 2011
by Lori Fossum
The Washington State Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold public hearings on HB 1479 (Revising the publication requirements of the statute law committee) on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 10 a.m. Meeting location: Senate Hearing Rm 1, J.A. Cherberg Building in Olympia, WA.
This is one of two bills currently on the Committee’s 3/8/11 agenda, which is always subject to change. See the Committee’s agenda for more information: http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/JUD/Pages/Agendas.aspx
by Lori Fossum
The Washington House Judiciary Committee considered HB 1479, Revising the publication requirements of the statute law committee, at its public hearing this morning. Several librarians attended the hearing and reported that nothing unexpected occurred. The Code Reviser spoke in support of the bill and answered only a few questions from the committee members; no one spoke in opposition. HB 1479 is still on the Committee’s Executive agenda for 2/3/11.
TVW provided a live webcast. The video and audio are now available in the TVW archives. Please click here to watch video or paste this url into your browser address bar: http://www.tvw.org/media/mediaplayer.cfm?EvId=2011021026
By Lori Fossum
The House Judiciary Committee has placed HB 1479, Revising the publication requirements of the statute law committee, on its agenda for public hearing on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 8 a.m.
Location:
House Hearing Rm A
John L. O’Brien Building
Olympia, WA
The Committee’s public hearing agenda for 2/2/11, which is subject to change, lists HB 1479 as its first bill. The Committee has placed HB 1479 on its executive agenda for the following day, 2/3/11.
As you may have heard, Washington’s Statute Law Committee has requested a bill regarding the Committee’s publication requirements be introduced and passed this Session. The bill is House Bill 1479 and may be tracked on the Legislature’s web site.
This bill affects the publication and distribution of the RCW and the WAC. The House Judiciary Committee was assigned this bill on January 24, 2011.
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