House moves trio of Goodman’s good-government bills

March 2, 2009

OLYMPIA – The House approved three of Rep. Roger Goodman’s bills to improve government and sent them over to the Senate on Friday. Goodman, D-Kirkland, has focused on small fixes that he hopes will have a bigger impact.

“The people want a more efficient government and many of my bills target common-sense fixes,” Goodman said. “The Legislature is working on broad reform packages but in the meanwhile there’s no reason we can’t implement some lower-profile cost saving measures.”

One measure, House Bill 1058, will save the state about $50,000 and prevent countless volumes of paper from being printed. It deals with corrections to the Revised Code of Washington, a series of thick books printed containing the state’s laws.

“It’s not surprising to find that some of our laws passed in the last 100 years aren’t up to 21st Century standards,” Goodman said. “As we move more and more into the digital age, we need to be easing off of lengthy printing requirements that are costing us money and trees.”

Goodman also passed House Bills 1257 and 1261, both dealing with efficiencies in our court system. They would remove cumbersome filing requirements in clerks’ offices and improve communication between courts.

“As the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee, I come across a lot of strange laws,” Goodman said. “My hope is that when we remove needless rules and allow better communication that the public will be better served as a result.”

Goodman has now passed seven pieces of legislation out of the House this year, including an important fix to a 2008 law that protects homeowners facing foreclosure. House Bill 1132 removes burdensome legal risks for real estate agents who were concerned their good-faith efforts would be caught up in the original bill.

“This year we’re going to change the law so that real estate agents can help troubled homeowners through urgent property transactions, while keeping the law’s original intent to stop scam artists from preying on those same homeowners,” Goodman said.

The Legislature is nearing the middle of its 105-day session, set to end on April 26.

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For more information
State Rep. Roger Goodman, (360) 786-7878
Website and print-quality image: housedemocrats.wa.gov/members/goodman

Staff contact - Andrew Dziedzic, (360) 786-7218