Washington State House Democrats

94-0 vote caps a busy week for Dickerson

March 11, 2005 

OLYMPIA –A state law proposed by Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson to protect Puget Sound from cruise ship wastes and sewage was expected to be among the most controversial environmental issues of the 2005 legislative session. But late Thursday night, Dickerson’s House proposal passed the House unanimously.

Dickerson’s House Bill 1415 would give legal force to a memorandum of understanding reached with the cruise industry last year concerning wastewater and sewage discharges. It also empowers the state to independently test cruise ship effluents and treatment equipment.

"Most Democrats and Republicans agreed all along that we need more than a memo to protect Washington’s waters from the discharges of what are essentially floating cities," said Dickerson, D-Phinney Ridge, after the 94-0 House vote. "Once we figured out a way to reduce the industry’s concerns about the costs of complying with a new law, it was smooth sailing."

The cruise ship measure was one of four major bills sponsored by Dickerson that passed the House Thursday. Dickerson, who chairs the House Juvenile Justice & Family Law Committee, also scored successes in measures aimed at reducing child abuse and juvenile crime:

• House Bill 1314, which seeks to provide $675,000 a year for community-based domestic violence prevention through a $10 fee on marriage and divorce filings, passed the House 71-25.

• House Bill 1483 calls for a new "Reinvesting in Youth" strategy to provide grants to counties which offer research-based early-intervention services to reduce juvenile crime. The measure grew out of a state study Dickerson launched in 2003 that revealed wide differences between the cost-effectiveness of existing crime-prevention programs. Dickerson’s Reinvesting in Youth strategy passed the House 85-0.