H-1930.1

HOUSE BILL 2120

ByRepresentatives Vick, Shea, Walsh, Barkis, Klippert, Volz, MacEwen, Corry, Irwin, Stokesbary, Kraft, Hoff, Harris, Kretz, and Van Werven

AN ACT Relating to the creation of a work group to study and make recommendations on a statue to replace the Vladimir Lenin statue; creating new sections; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

(2) The legislature finds that under rigorous, objective review Vladimir Lenin does not meet the standards of being one of our state's top honorees with a statue display in Seattle.

(3) The legislature finds that Vladimir Lenin:

(a) Was the influence behind Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the Russian soviet federative socialist republic, which stated that treason of the motherland by a counter-revolutionary shall be punishable by shooting and confiscation of all property, removal of citizenship, and that failure to denounce a counter-revolutionary was punishable by deprivation of liberty for six months;

(b) Was the principal actor behind the Red Terror of 1917 to 1922, that resulted in the death of more than 100,000 people. Targets of the Red Terror were members of the White Army and even people who did not explicitly support the Soviet regime. This lead to the slogan of the Bolsheviks: "Who is not with us, is against us." Killings were carried out by bringing people into courtyards in large groups and machine gunning them to death. It was also not uncommon to force prisoners to dig their own graves. The Red Terror also served as inspiration for other red terrors in Hungary, Spain, Greece, Ethiopia, China, and parts of India.

(c) Was supportive of involuntary population transfers on the basis of economic class. Lenin targeted a group known as the Kulaks, or more affluent peasants. The Kulaks were removed from their homes, their property was seized, and they were forced to resettle somewhere else. Between 1930 and 1931, between one million six hundred thousand and one million eight hundred thousand Kulaks were forcibly resettled. Around four hundred thousand died during that period.

(d) Was responsible for the ethnic atrocities committed by the Soviet Union including six million people who were internally displaced between 1930 and 1959, of whom three million five hundred thousand were ethnic minorities. A total of one million to one million five hundred thousand died as a result of forced resettlement.

(e) Was responsible for the deportation and genocide of Crimean Tatars and Chechens, as recognized by the European Parliament.

(f) Was responsible for the atrocities committed by the Cheka inside and outside of the Gulags. Including sending people to Gulags for three years for arriving late to work three times, twenty-five years for telling jokes about Communist Party officials, and ten years for petty theft. The Cheka forced prisoners in the Gulag to work for fourteen hours a day of hard labor, performing tasks such as mining for copper by hand and digging at the icy ground with primitive pickaxes. Female prisoners were often raped by guards, and when victims became pregnant, their children were often taken from them never to be seen again. People often starved because they were barely given enough food to survive, and were given even less if they did not provide as much iron while they were mining. The Cheka carried out brutal torture techniques including tying enemies to planks and slowly feeding them into furnaces or tanks of boiling water, it was also common for the skin to be peeled off of their hands to create "gloves." Victims would also be rolled around naked in barrels with internally placed nails and then stoned to death afterwards.

(4) The legislature intends to request a replacement of the statue of Vladimir Lenin in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Therefore, the legislature intends to create a work group to make recommendations regarding an appropriate replacement for the Vladimir Lenin statue. Any recommendation from the work group created under section 2 of this act is nonbinding.

(2) The work group membership shall be composed of:

(a) The director of the department of archaeology and historic preservation, or his or her designee, who shall serve as the chair of the work group and provide staff support for the commission;

(b) One member from each of the four major caucuses of the legislature, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate;

(c) The director of the Washington state historical society, or his or her designee;

(d) The mayor of Seattle, or his or her designee;

(e) The director of the city of Seattle office of arts and culture;

(f) A representative from the legacy Washington program at the office of the secretary of state, selected by the secretary of state; and

(g) Four representatives from the public, appointed by the governor.

(3) The department of archaeology and historic preservation shall provide staff support to the work group created under this section.

(4) The work group shall:

(a) Conduct at least five meetings throughout the state, at least two of which must be held on the east side of the Cascade mountains. The purpose of the meetings is to study and review Washington state history and recommend three individuals who, after a rigorous and objective review, are worthy of representing the state of Washington;

(b) Include the names of the individuals recommended pursuant to (a) of this subsection and their qualifications in the report required under subsection (5) of this section;

(c) Include in its report required under subsection (5) of this section recommendations for the arts commission concerning the selection of a sculptor for the new statue;

(d) Provide information regarding the anticipated funding needed for:

(i) The design, carving, or casting of the statue;

(ii) The design or fabrication of the pedestal;

(iii) An unveiling ceremony, if desired, or other expenses that may be necessary for the statue replacement;

(iv) Temporarily erecting the new statue before the unveiling ceremony, if desired; and

(e) Make recommendations regarding the funding sources that may be available, which may include solicitation of private funds or a method for obtaining necessary funds.

(5) Legislative members of the work group shall be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 44.04.120. Nonlegislative members shall be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with chapter 43.03 RCW. The expenses of the work group must be paid by the department of archaeology and historic preservation. The expenditures of the work group are subject to approval by the department of archaeology and historic preservation.

(6) The work group shall submit a report of its recommendations to the appropriate committees of the legislature in accordance with RCW 43.01.036 by November 1, 2019.

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