Bill assigned to K-12 committee; two more senators sign on

In what was an unexpected twist today, the Student Free Expression Bill -- SB6449 -- was assigned to the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. It had been expected that the bill would be referred to the judiciary committee as it was last year.

The good news is that primary sponsor of the bill, Sen. Joe McDermott (D-Seattle), is on that committee, as is secondary sponsor Sen. Brian Weinstein (D-Mercer Island). Perhaps even better news is that the chair of that committee, Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe (D-Seattle, pictured right), has been added today as a secondary sponsor, as has Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Kent).

High schools were stripped from the bill in the senate judiciary committee last year, so perhaps a change of venue bodes well for the bill being sent to the floor.

The members of that K-12 committee are as follows. Clicking on each senator's name will take you to a page where you can contact that senator. You can also look up your district's senator by clicking here.

Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee

• Rosemary McAuliffe - Chair (D-1st District, Seattle)
• Rodney Tom - Vice Chair (D-48th District, Bellevue)
• Curtis King - Ranking Minority Member (R-14th District, Yakima)
• Dale Brandland (R-42nd District, Bellingham)
• Tracey Eide (D-30th District, Federal Way)
• Mike Hewitt (R-16th District, Walla Walla)
• Steve Hobbs (D-44th District, Lake Stevens)
• Janéa Holmquist (R-13th District, Moses Lake)
• Claudia Kauffman (D-47th District, Kent)
• Joe McDermott (D-34th District, Seattle)
• Eric Oemig (D-45th District, Kirkland)
• Marilyn Rasmussen (D-2nd District, Eatonville)
• Brian Weinstein (D-41st District, Mercer Island)
• Joseph Zarelli (R-18th District, Ridgefield)