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Chelsea Harrison Act gets “do pass” recommendation from Senate Judiciary Committee January 24, 2008 OLYMPIA…A bill sponsored by Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, to fix a loophole in the state’s “Three Strikes You’re Out” law was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday and is now in the Senate Rules Committee, the last stop before full Senate action. “You just have keep working at it,” Benton said. “Last year my bill didn’t move, but I got the substance of the bill through the Senate twice as amendments to other bills. Both amendments were stripped off in the House. “This year I put the full weight of the Senate behind the bill. It was the first bill to get a public hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and it was voted out of the committee with a unanimous voice vote yesterday.” Benton’s measure, Senate Bill 6184, has 47 Senate sponsors. “This measure enjoys strong bipartisan support this year,” Benton said. “I’ve made an effort to reach across the aisle and work with all my colleagues, from all parts of the state.” SB 6184 adds to Washington’s “Three Strikes You’re Out” law any felony crime conviction in another state with a finding of sexual motivation if the minimum sentence imposed was 10 years or more. In 1999, a man who had previously been sent to prison for life under Washington’s “Three Strikes You’re Out” law, got out on appeal because one of his crimes was committed in Arizona and didn’t exactly match the criteria under Washington’s law. After he was released from custody, he murdered Chelsea Harrison. “I think it is just unconscionable that a young girl paid for this loophole with her life,” Benton said. —30—
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