Washington state legislature considers
Nuclear Disarmament bills
January, 2020. New proposals have been introduced that would put the State of Washington on record as recognizing its status as a nuclear armed state, aware of its vulnerability to devastation in the event of any nuclear war, and recommending that Congress and the president take steps to Back Away From the Brink.
Senator Bob Hasegawa introduced SJM 8006
Representative Gael Tarleton introduced HJM 4008
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Both of these resolutions will be discussed in committees and then debated on the floor of the Sate Legislature. They say basically the same thing. Here are excerpts:
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WHEREAS, Nearly fourteen thousand five hundred nuclear weapons still exist in the world and pose an intolerable risk to human survival; and
WHEREAS, The United States has roughly six thousand four hundred fifty nuclear weapons, constituting the world's most lethal nuclear weapons capability; and
WHEREAS, The United States is currently planning to spend at least one trillion two hundred million dollars rebuilding our entire nuclear weapons arsenal, which takes funding away from conventional military needs and social programs like education, health care, and infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, The use and detonation of even a small number of nuclear weapons could have catastrophic human, environmental, and economic consequences globally; and
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WHEREAS, Washington state has the largest collection of deployed nuclear weapons in the Western Hemisphere,
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WHEREAS, This nuclear weapons installation, added to Washington state's large city centers and many other military installations, makes our state a primary target in the event of a nuclear exchange;
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WHEREAS, Washington's citizens, and all Americans have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and to live a life free from the threat of nuclear weapons; and
WHEREAS, The United States could lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by:
(1) Renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first;
(2) Ending the President's sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack;
(3) Taking United States nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert;
(4) Canceling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with next generation nuclear weapons; and
(5) Actively pursuing a verifiable,multilateral agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals;
NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Congress take appropriate steps to move back from the brink of nuclear war by establishing a system of checks and balances to ensure that the President shall no longer have the sole, unchecked authority to launch nuclear weapons, except in circumstances of retaliation to a nuclear attack, and making it the policy of the United States to not use nuclear weapons first. BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.
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Update March 15, 2020 These were first introduced in 2019, but failed to make it to the floor, then were reintroduced in January 2020, and once again died in their respective committees.
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* Also updated March 15, 2020.
SSJM 8017 did pass this session. It requests that the US Congress reinstate health care and other benefits to the COFA states that had been previously cancelled. Compact of Free Association includes the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated Sates of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau. The Compact was adopted by them and the US in 1986.
You can find your legislators,and their contact info here.
District 40
Representative Debra Lekanoff
422 John L. O'Brien Building
PO Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504
(360) 786 - 7800
email Debra.Lekanoff@leg.wa.gov
Representative Alex Ramel
436A Legislative Building
PO Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504
(360) 786 - 7970
email Alex.Ramel@leg.wa.gov
Senator Liz Lovelett
215 John A. Cherberg Building
PO Box 40440
Olympia, WA 98504
(360) 786 - 7678
email Liz.Lovelett@leg.wa.gov
District 10
Representative Dave Paul
309 John L. O'Brien Building
PO Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504
(360) 786 - 7914
email Dave.Paul@leg.wa.gov
Representative Norma Smith
435 John L. O'Brien Building
PO Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504
(360) 786 - 7884
email norma.smith@leg.wa.gov
Senator Ron Muzzall
203 Irv Newhouse Building
PO Box 40410
Olympia, WA 98504
(360) 786 - 7618
email Ron.Muzzall@leg.wa.gov