The Hopkinton Town Council passed a resolution, 3 to 2. The creation of the Cascade Care program, at the request of Gov. Jay Inslee signed a group of bills Tuesday tightening rules on guns in some circumstances, part of a national shift toward more narrowly focused gun legislation.Included in the bills were provisions allowing temporary gun bans on people being released from short-term psychiatric holds and people found incompetent to stand trial, and a prohibition on so-called “ghost guns” that lack serial numbers or are made from plastic and might be invisible to airport scanners.The new rules also update existing gun-surrender requirements for people under restraining orders, adding a requirement for law enforcement to serve the orders.Renee Hopkins, head of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, an advocacy group that worked on the measures, said the bills passed Tuesday, combined with other regulations passed in previous years, make Washington “one of the states with the strongest laws in regards to preventing gun violence.”Gun policy watchers have said the bills fit into a broader pattern of legislation around the U.S. "Under Cascade Care, the state will not subsidize or help cover the cost of premiums beyond federal subsidies that are already available on the exchange based on income levels. As premiums have gone up, enrollments have dropped. Washington state In 2018, the average rate increase was 36%, a spike attributed in part to President Trump's decision to stop funding cost-sharing reduction assistance. It … Instead, Washington is creating more of a hybrid public-private system where the state will contract with private health insurers to administer the plans, but will control the terms to manage costs. President Jair Bolsonaro loosened Brazil's strict gun laws by decree Tuesday, delivering on a campaign promise to make it easier for Brazilians to buy guns and ammunition amid rising crime fears. "We worry that this could distort the market," said state Sen. Steve O'Ban, the ranking Republican on the Senate's Health and Long Term Care Committee. Jay Inslee recently signed legislation making Washington the first state to enter the private health insurance market with a universally available public option.Millions of Americans who buy individual health insurance, and don't qualify for a federal subsidy, have been hit with sticker shock in recent years.
Washington is thought to be the first state law to authorize the creation of a public insurance plan of this type.But is Washington's approach to individual health care a true public option?
More than 200 new laws take effect in Washington state this week, including a package of bills meant to address sexual misconduct at the workplace. The towns say they won't enforce new laws they feel infringe on their constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Tuesday’s bill makes the blocks automatic even for people held only for 72 hours — a decision made by a medical expert without a judge’s approval.State law currently bars guns for people found incompetent in criminal trials and then involuntarily committed by a judge, but that block is now set to expand to include people found incompetent but released instead of being committed.People under restraining orders and domestic violence offenders have also been a focus for incrementally tighter rules from legislators.Gun surrender was already required for some people subject to restraining and protective orders, but one of the measures signed Tuesday requires the police to serve the orders.Another bill that passed the Legislature but remains unsigned by Inslee requires law enforcement to remove any guns found at the scene of a domestic violence crime and hold them for five days, even if the guns weren’t used in the crime itself.The so-called “ghost gun” measure involves two types of weapons: Plastic weapons printed on 3D printers, which might be invisible to airport scanners, and guns without serial numbers, including ones that can be made from do-it-yourself kits available online without a background check. But she also has a reality check for consumers regarding the new Washington law. It bans undetectable guns, and effectively requires a background check for purchasing such a gun-making kit.