This time yesterday, we were still gathering reaction to news that the State Senate’s Ways and Means Committee took an action some advocates had feared they wouldn’t – voting EHB 1679, now known as the “Jason McKissack Act” after the former West Seattle police officer, out of their committee. (This is the bill to keep catastrophically injured public-safety personnel like McKissack, who suffered brain damage from being attacked while on duty, from losing health coverage because they can’t work.) The W/M Committee’s recommendation was that Rules Committee members, who have it now, “do pass” the bill – and they have to, this week, in order for it to get to the floor for a full Senate vote. West Seattle’s Sen. Joe McDermott says he’ll work to get it out of Rules. For some more legislative context, we heard from Arbor Heights resident Gary Gardner of GRG Government Relations. He explains that while the Ways and Means Committee had to approve the bill because of its potential costs, the Rules Committee is a filter of whether to let the bill get to the floor. (More explanation here.) Gardner says the best way to express interest in getting a bill moved out of Rules is to let the leader of the appropriate house – in this case, the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Lisa Brown – know that you want to see this bill come up for a vote. Here’s her contact information (she also is on the Rules Committee, whose membership is listed here). He says this Friday is the deadline for this bill to clear its next hurdle, as the cutoff for advancing bills that originated in the other house (as did this one). ADDED 11:45 PM: Jason McKissack’s wife Kim, who testified twice in Olympia as the bill has progressed, left this message in comments on Monday’s story:

I am injured officer, Jason McKissack’s wife. I just want to thank the West Seattle Blog for staying on top of this for the past (almost) 2 years. I wish I could thank everyone in person, but I don’t think I’d make it thru all my tears of gratitude. I did give a big thank you to WSB last night on Q13, but they edited it out :( But did, thankfully, kept in my thanks to Ms. Margarita Prentice. This sure has been a ride I didn’t expect to take – but thankfully, I’ve met many wonderful people and did learn a lesson about how important our voices are. We were in the right place, at the right time, with the right message. Renee Maher, could not have done it without you and will always be grateful. So far so good. Hope to have the best news EVER really soon! Thank you all! The McKissack Family