(From left, Kim and Jason McKissack, Renee Maher, in Olympia Monday)
Just in from Renee Maher of COMPAS, a law-enforcement-advocacy group:

We’ve been told that some very important bills for law enforcement and firefighters will be voted on the House Floor on Wednesday, February 3. The House Floor session is scheduled to start at 10:00 but the bills may not be heard until closer to 10:30.

The House gallery is open to the public and we are particularly inviting families of fallen officers (both past and recent), law enforcement officers and firefighters. There will be an honor guard procession as well.

Among the bills being heard is HB 2519 (expanding benefits for the families of officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty) and EHB 1679 (the Jason McKissack Act).

Monday, we went to Olympia to cover the House Ways and Means public hearing on EHB 1679 (WSB coverage here); the next day, the committee unanimously voted to advance it to a vote in the full House. If you’re just coming in on the story – this dates back to the attack on then-Officer McKissack in summer 2008, in which he was kicked in the face while responding to a call of someone in trouble, kicked so hard he suffered brain damage from which he hasn’t recovered enough to return to any kind of work; the city has let him go, and that meant benefits ended for him and his family. Meantime, if you want to tell your State House reps what you think about EHB 1679, they are Rep. Eileen Cody (who voted for it in Ways and Means on Tuesday) and Rep. Sharon Nelson – each of their names is linked to contact info.