Assembly Bills Hijacked and are Now of Serious Concern to Firearm Owners

[huntrights]

This is happening in California.  We can expect the same to happen in Washington if they are doing it in California.  Be very aware of the deceitful hijacking of bills that have nothing to do with firearms, but are amended into anti-gun bills.

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20160508/california-assembly-bills-hijacked-and-are-now-of-serious-concern-to-firearm-owners

"California: Assembly Bills Hijacked and are Now of Serious Concern to Firearm Owners
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2016

Contact the members of the Senate Public Safety Committee Now!

Last week anti-gun legislators hijacked four bills and amended them into anti-gun bills of serious consequence to firearm owners and Second Amendment supporters.

These bills are now scheduled to be heard Tuesday, May 10 by the Senate Public Safety Committee.  Please contact the members of the Senate Public Safety Committee and urge them to OPPOSE AB 156, AB 857, AB 1135, and AB 1511.  Contact information can be found here or by clicking on the TAKE ACTION button below:

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION
https://act.nraila.org/takeaction.aspx?AlertID=226

Below is a list of the amended bills:

Assembly Bill 156 (McCarty & de Leon) - AB 156, introduced as legislation to combat global warming, now requires the Attorney General to maintain information about ammunition transactions and vendor licenses.

Assembly Bill 857 (Cooper & de Leon) – AB 857, introduced as legislation to reduce greenhouse gases, now serves as a restriction on curios, relics, and home-built firearms.

Assembly Bill 1135 (Levine & Ting) – AB 1135’s introduced as legislation to form the Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency, now  serves as a reclassification of certain semi-automatic weapons to assault weapons. With this change any magazine capable of being removed from the firearm without disassembly of the firearm would now be classified as an assault weapon. This includes firearms that require a “tool” to remove the magazine such as rifles equipped with a “bullet button”.

Assembly Bill 1511 (Santiago) – AB 1511’s introduced as energy saving bill, now severely limits the ability to loan a firearm between two law abiding citizens, for example a hunting trip or home protection.

Make sure that you are registered to vote so that you can support candidates who believe in your right to keep and bear arms. To register to vote, click here. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/"

[Lucky1]

 
They won't stop trying. If you can, please keep us informed when they try this in Washington.

[lokidog]

Doesn't the WA Constitution prevent this by not allowing two totally different things in one bill, or is that just for initiatives?

[huntrights]

Looks like you might be right; we might be safe from the deceptive tactics used in California.  OOPS - Take a look at California's Constitution.

Excerpt from Washington's Constitution:
Article II Section 19
SECTION 19 BILL TO CONTAIN ONE SUBJECT.
No bill shall embrace more than one subject, and that
shall be expressed in the title.


However, this is from California's Constitution; it seems to have a similar restriction.  One might wonder if the new approach to achieving radical agendas is to ignore the Constitution, pass illegal laws, and just let someone file a lawsuit - if they can afford it. 

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 4  LEGISLATIVE

SEC. 9.  A statute shall embrace but one subject, which shall be
expressed in its title. If a statute embraces a subject not expressed
in its title, only the part not expressed is void. A statute may not
be amended by reference to its title. A section of a statute may not
be amended unless the section is re-enacted as amended.

[bearpaw]

remember they put baiting and hound hunting on the same bill and it passed and was upheld

[huntrights]

The title on the initiative appears to have been fairly broad so it may be that they could write almost anything related to the methods of taking wildlife in the body of the initiative.  In any event, does the reference to bills in the Constitution also apply to initiatives?  The legal folks would have to evaluate this one.

"INITIATIVE 655
AN ACT Relating to methods of taking wildlife; adding a new section to chapter 77.16 RCW; and prescribing penalties."

http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/i655.pdf



It looks like the tactic used in California was to use a current bill number that originally covered an unrelated topic, but completely change the title and the content of the bill.  If that tactic is not prohibited, it should be.  Such an approach would tend to confuse people who were familiar with the content of the original bill, but not be aware that the title and content had been completely changed.

Click on the links to see what they did:

Assembly Bill 156
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_0151-0200/ab_156_bill_20160504_amended_sen_v91.pdf

Assembly Bill 857
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_0851-0900/ab_857_bill_20160504_amended_sen_v92.pdf

Assembly Bill 1135
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_1101-1150/ab_1135_bill_20160504_amended_sen_v96.pdf

Assembly Bill 1511
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_1501-1550/ab_1511_bill_20160504_amended_sen_v97.pdf

[csaaphill]

Remember too if they can get it hidden in a bill they will.
Remember what they tried to pull in the assault weapons ban they tried here. Part of the bill allowed yearly inspections of your home by the sheriff or local Law enforcement officer. If it weren't for someone's diligence upon noticing that wording, they would have voted on it as is. Luckilly someone saw it and we were able to get that wording taken out, that just goes to show you that they are a conniving bunch.

[huntrights]

This is an interesting read:

"How Have Term Limits Affected the California Legislature?"
http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/rb/RB_1104BCRB.pdf

Excerpt from the article:

"The effects on Sacramento’s policymaking processes
have been more profound. In both houses, committees now
screen out fewer bills assigned to them and are more likely
to see their work rewritten at later stages. The practice of
“hijacking” Assembly bills—gutting their contents and
amending them thoroughly in the Senate—has increased
sharply."

If legislation does not currently exist in Washington's laws to prevent this unethical abuse of process, perhaps something should be put in place.  It is unfortunate, but it seems there are many legislators in our House of Representatives and Senate that march in lock-step with some of the anti-gun and anti-hunting legislators in California.

[csaaphill]

I get email alerts and think I saw that some of these had passed, but now the Senate needs to approve them. I've also seen where someone wants to pass a law that makes it a felon, or something for people to buy certain types of metal. Meaning if it hasn't' been certified or something. Wish I'd of kept it I'd of posted it sorry.

[Eli346]

They (State and Feds) do this all the time to sneak things through and then we wonder what the hell happened. It's hard to read the fine print and addendums on these non-descript bills and that's what they are counting on!

[Wenatcheejay]

This is an interesting read:

"How Have Term Limits Affected the California Legislature?"
http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/rb/RB_1104BCRB.pdf

Excerpt from the article:

"The effects on Sacramento’s policymaking processes
have been more profound. In both houses, committees now
screen out fewer bills assigned to them and are more likely
to see their work rewritten at later stages. The practice of
“hijacking” Assembly bills—gutting their contents and
amending them thoroughly in the Senate—has increased
sharply."

If legislation does not currently exist in Washington's laws to prevent this unethical abuse of process, perhaps something should be put in place.  It is unfortunate, but it seems there are many legislators in our House of Representatives and Senate that march in lock-step with some of the anti-gun and anti-hunting legislators in California.

Very good idea.