3.2.17

Suggested lead:  Members of the state House put in another marathon day of floor debate and final votes on Thursday.  Dan Frizzell has more.

Wrap (:77 total):

FROM THE PODIUM: “Having received a constitutional majority, House Bill 1844 is declared passed.” SFX: Gavel

State representatives heard those words quite a few times Thursday as they raced toward a key deadline next week.  Veterans’ issues, mental health and public safety were just a few of the issues on a docket comprising more than three dozen bills.  One of the first bills of the day dealt with felony eluding – the legal name for what most people know as 'trying to outrun a cop.' To protect the public and police alike, most law enforcement agencies rarely initiate chases anymore when a driver decides to take off, opting instead to let them go for now and arrest them when the dust settles.  But as Representative Mike Sells notes, it’s hard to convict a driver for eluding when no one was actively chasing them. 

SELLS: “If you go to court and you try to get them on eluding, the courts quite often, and juries, interpret it as ‘he wasn’t eluding, because it wasn’t a full-blown chase or the chase was not initiated.’  This bill corrects that.” [:13]

Sells, a veteran Democrat from Everett, wrote the bill to make clear that once a driver is aware that he’s being waved over to stop, hot pursuit isn’t required – only a willful attempt to get away.  Statistically, that’s an attempt that is almost never successful because, as Sells points out, it’s hard to outrun a radio. In Olympia, I’m Dan Frizzell.