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Ross' anti-gang bill signed into law
This year's legislation is just the beginning, says
Ross
Editor's Note: Photo of
Rep. Ross and Yakima city manager Dick Zais with Governor Gregoire and
others as she signed the anti-gang bill is
attached.
Just
three days after the eluding bill was signed into law,
Rep. Charles Ross,
R-Naches, returned to Olympia today to watch the governor sign the
anti-gang bill into law. Both measures were co-sponsored by Ross.
"Passage of this bill was
the culmination of a lot of time, effort and cooperation. The citizens
around the state who came to testify before us in the gang task force
should know their opinions and stories were heard," Ross said. "I'm so
grateful for all the work done on this issue."
The anti-gang bill was
crafted from recommendations and input received from concerned citizens,
community groups, local government, the American Civil Liberties Union
and others.
The cities of Sunnyside,
Yakima and Union Gap adopted their own civil anti-gang injunctions last
year.
"These local governments
stood up against gang violence in their communities, and because of them
the issue was really brought to light in the rest of the state," Ross
said. "It has been difficult for our state to really address gangs. I'm
proud that the cities in my district had the courage and leadership to
do something about the problem."
House Bill 2712 contains policies and funding to:
-
define gangs, gang
members and gang crimes;
-
build a database used
by law enforcement to identify proven gang members;
-
increase punishment
for gang members who recruit juveniles to commit crimes;
-
quickly remove
graffiti in neighborhoods;
-
give law enforcement
more dedicated resources to fight criminal gangs;
-
protect witnesses of
gang crimes to encourage testimony for conviction; and
-
identify ways to
prevent gang membership in prisons and jails
"My community and at least
five other cities around the state urgently need this legislation," Ross
said. "This is just the beginning, we'll be back next year to make the
law even stronger to address gang violence."
The bill was amended by the Senate to remove the authority for local
jurisdictions to use civil anti-gang injunctions. The
injunctions would have allowed local jurisdictions a legal way to
prevent established gang members from associating with each other in
designated 'safe zones.'
"We will come back next
year and work to give authority to locals to use anti-gang injunctions,"
Ross said.
Ross said he was pleased
to see the governor sign the bill despite a veto request from Sen.
Kline, a member of the task force with whom Ross developed a close
working relationship.
"I look forward to working
with Senator Kline again next year to restore the parts of the bill that
were removed, but this is an issue that needs attention and action now,"
Ross said. "People place their trust in the Legislature to do the right
thing, and today we have done that."
The new law goes into
effect July 1, 2008.
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For more information, contact:
Sarah Lamb, Public Information
Officer - (360) 786-7720
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