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February 9, 2009 5:40 PM

Some New Bills in Olympia

Any legislator can “drop” a bill—that is, propose a new law. Here are a few Olympian ideas that caught my eye. I make no claim that these are the most important bills, or that you should take them seriously. But they are real proposals.

House Bill 1186, sole sponsor Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds. This proposed law would apply to any retailer selling gasoline or diesel-fueled lawnmowers, string trimmers, leaf blowers, air compressors, chainsaws, turf equipment, lawn and garden tractors and similar off-road equipment of less than 50 horsepower. Retailers selling any of these items “must provide equal or greater shelf space to similar products that are powered by an electrical cord or a rechargeable battery.” Retailers would have to put up “signs describing the consumer benefits of choosing electric or battery-powered engines” if products with such “engines” (she means “motors”) existed. The standards for the signs would be set by the state Department of Ecology. Sales of gas and diesel-powered equipment would have to pay a 6 percent carbon-emissions tax. Estimated cost to consumers in 2010: $55.6 million.

House Bill 1638, sponsored by Rep. Tami Green, Assistant Majority Floor Leader, D-Steilacoom, and three others. This proposed law would begin the state licensing of colon hydrotherapists—a trade made fun of on Penn & Teller, and, more important, dismissed by many medical authorities. Here is the account on Wikipedia,which says, “No scientific evidence supports the alleged benefits of colon cleansing.” Estimated cost in fees to the state: $133,000 a year.

House Bill 1189, sponsored by Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds, and Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy. The bill says: “A person who owns or operates a retail store may not provide a carry-out bag for free or for charge to a consumer unless the carryout bag is either a compostable plastic carryout bag, a recyclable paper carryout bag, or a reusable carryout bag.” The law would allow the grocer to give you a free plastic bag for fresh meat, dairy products, fruit, vegetables, ice or cooked foods, but not for canned, dried, boxed or frozen foods. This is tougher than Seattle's proposed ordinance, which, if approved by voters, would levy a tax of 20 cents on disposable plastic and paper bags at grocery stores. Chase and Campbell's bill would ban non-compostable plastic bags.

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Comments

It seems that this state is going to screw us even more on top of the Federal reaming! Bend over, this is going to hurt! Posted on February 9, 2009 at 8:30 PM by absinthe. Jump to comment

House Bill 1186 sounds like it has a good intention for building awareness about energy use. It does have a cost for small business owners, like my... Posted on February 10, 2009 at 9:51 AM by richard-morris. Jump to comment

House Bill 1189 mandating the kind of bags provided in retail stores sounds like common sense to me. By now everyone must realize the environmental... Posted on February 10, 2009 at 10:07 AM by richard-morris. Jump to comment

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