WHEREAS, The soldiers of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, were sent to Iraq for what was to have been a year-long deployment; and

      WHEREAS, The 3,800 soldiers of the 3rd Stryker Brigade stayed for fifteen months in Iraq, after seeing action in Mosul, Baghdad, and many other parts of that country considered among the toughest and most dangerous; and

      WHEREAS, The troops of the Arrowhead Stryker Brigade, as they are also known, moved farther, faster, and fought harder than any other unit in today's army, according to commander Col. Stephen Townsend; and

      WHEREAS, The soldiers of the 3rd Stryker Brigade were credited with saving and changing the lives of Iraqi people; and

      WHEREAS, Through the bravery and dedication of the 3rd Stryker Brigade, areas of Iraq that had been abandoned by civilians due to extreme danger were repopulated; and

      WHEREAS, Through "Operation Arrowhead Ripper" to clear al-Qaida insurgents in Iraq, soldiers from the 3rd Brigade captured hundreds of enemy fighters and cleared dozens of bombs and booby-trapped houses, making it possible to then launch humanitarian relief efforts; and

      WHEREAS, The 3rd Stryker Brigade lost 48 soldiers, and suffered the wounding of 700; and

      WHEREAS, Ten soldiers of the 3rd Stryker Brigade were awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for combat valor: Staff Sgt. Mark Grover; Staff Sgt. Shawn McGuire; Staff Sgt. David Plush; Sgt. Steven Peters; Spc. Gildardo Cebreros; Staff Sgt. Ismael Iban-Cordero; Staff Sgt. Jon M. Hilliard; Maj. Brent Clemmer; and Spc. Curtis Lundren; with one awarded posthumously to Sgt. Jason Harkins; and

      WHEREAS, The members of the 3rd Stryker Brigade were redeployed to Fort Lewis in September 2007;

      NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State Senate honor the sacrifice and valor of these Soldiers who served their country with great distinction and honor, and express its appreciation to their families for the sacrifices they made during the deployment of their loved ones; and

      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

      Senators Franklin, Swecker, Haugen, Carrell, Rasmussen, Hobbs, Shin and McCaslin spoke in favor of adoption of the resolution.

      The President declared the question before the Senate to be the adoption of Senate Resolution No. 8709.

      The motion by Senator Franklin carried and the resolution was adopted by voice vote.

INTRODUCTION OF SPECIAL GUESTS

      The President welcomed and introduced members of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team Silver Star recipients: Sergeant First Class Iban, Staff Sergeant Hilliard, Staff Sergeant McGuire, Staff Sergeant Plush, Sergeant Peters and Specialist Cebreros who were seated in the gallery.

INTRODUCTION OF SPECIAL GUESTS

The President welcomed and introduced First Gentleman, Mike Gregoire and Colonel Dave E. Funk, Commander of the Third Stryker Brigade Combat Team who were seated at the rostrum.

MOTION

      On motion of Senator Marr, the Senate reverted to the sixth order of business.

PERSONAL PRIVILEGE

Senator Sheldon: “Mr. President, I just think I’d be remiss, it’s been two weeks since a tragic event in Moses Lake. A mentor to me, a real pioneer in public power, Vera Claussen lost her life in a residential house fire. Vera Claussen served public power for forty-seven years. She really was a pioneer. She of, course, was a Commissioner in Grant County PUD. She was a, also worked for the Public Utility District Association and was an executive board member for Energy Northwest. When I joined Energy Northwest she was very kind to me, told me the ropes, taught me a lot of things about public power. I think she was a woman very much before her time, really a pioneer, also was very much recognized for the American Public Power Association but I just wanted to rise and recognize her and make that point. What an inspiration she was to all of us. She retired in 2006 and was able to, I think, receive some of the accolades from her peers and others that knew her well. She did die in a tragic fire she last, two weeks ago in Grant County and that was very sad.”

PERSONAL PRIVILEGE

Senator Holmquist: “Thank you. I would just like to add to what my good colleague just mentioned in regards to Vera Claussen. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, her forty-seven years of service to the PUD and public power and our community, has left a lasting impression. Her contributions will be everlasting and my prayers and thoughts are with her family. Thank you Mr. President.”

SECOND READING

      SENATE BILL NO. 6332, by Senators Kauffman, Kilmer, Shin, Murray, Sheldon, Marr, Rasmussen, Franklin, Berkey, Haugen, Kohl-Welles, Regala, Keiser, Spanel, McDermott, Rockefeller, Kline, Tom and McAuliffe

      Increasing the debt limit of the housing finance commission.

      The measure was read the second time.

MOTION

      On motion of Senator Kauffman, the rules were suspended, Senate Bill No. 6332 was advanced to third reading, the second reading considered the third and the bill was placed on final passage.

      Senators Kauffman and Honeyford spoke in favor of passage of the bill.

MOTION

On motion of Senator Regala, Senators Eide and Jacobsen were excused.

      The President declared the question before the Senate to be the final passage of Senate Bill No. 6332.

ROLL CALL

      The Secretary called the roll on the final passage of Senate Bill No. 6332 and the bill passed the Senate by the following vote: Yeas, 47; Nays, 0; Absent, 0; Excused, 2.

      Voting yea: Senators Benton, Berkey, Brandland, Brown, Carrell, Delvin, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Haugen, Hewitt, Hobbs, Holmquist, Honeyford, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, King, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McCaslin, McDermott, Morton, Murray, Oemig, Parlette, Pflug, Prentice, Pridemore, Rasmussen, Regala, Roach, Rockefeller, Schoesler, Sheldon, Shin, Spanel, Stevens, Swecker, Tom, Weinstein and Zarelli - 47

      Excused: Senators Eide and Jacobsen - 2

      SENATE BILL NO. 6332, having received the constitutional majority, was declared passed. There being no objection, the title of the bill was ordered to stand as the title of the act.

SECOND READING

      SENATE BILL NO. 6339, by Senators Kohl-Welles, Swecker, Hargrove, Regala, Fraser, Marr and Kauffman

      Providing for address confidentiality of victims of trafficking.

MOTIONS

      On motion of Senator Kohl-Welles, Substitute Senate Bill No. 6339 was substituted for Senate Bill No. 6339 and the substitute bill was placed on the second reading and read the second time.

      On motion of Senator Kohl-Welles, the rules were suspended, Substitute Senate Bill No. 6339 was advanced to third reading, the second reading considered the third and the bill was placed on final passage.

      Senators Kohl-Welles, Swecker and Shin spoke in favor of passage of the bill.

      The President declared the question before the Senate to be the final passage of Substitute Senate Bill No. 6339.

ROLL CALL

      The Secretary called the roll on the final passage of Substitute Senate Bill No. 6339 and the bill passed the Senate by the following vote: Yeas, 47; Nays, 0; Absent, 0; Excused, 2.

      Voting yea: Senators Benton, Berkey, Brandland, Brown, Carrell, Delvin, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Haugen, Hewitt, Hobbs, Holmquist, Honeyford, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, King, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McCaslin, McDermott, Morton, Murray, Oemig, Parlette, Pflug, Prentice, Pridemore, Rasmussen, Regala, Roach, Rockefeller, Schoesler, Sheldon, Shin, Spanel, Stevens, Swecker, Tom, Weinstein and Zarelli - 47

      Excused: Senators Eide and Jacobsen - 2

      SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 6339, having received the constitutional majority, was declared passed. There being no objection, the title of the bill was ordered to stand as the title of the act.

PERSONAL PRIVILEGE

Senator Kohl-Welles: “Thank you Mr. President. Last week on Friday we ran out of time to have adoption of the Senate Resolution No. 8713 that had to do with human trafficking. We did have this in Pro Forma Session yesterday at which time we had former Representative Velma Veloria and former Senator Jeralita Costa in the gallery with us as well as Rani Hong who has today announced at a press conference that we had this morning of a new shelter for victims of trafficking that will be opening up. The obvious location is not being disclosed but it is Western Washington. First in the state and likely the one of the very first in the whole country. It will be called Nells home. This is a very important issue as we addressed with today being National Day of Freedom. Two weeks ago today, for the first time, we had the National Day of Trafficking Awareness that was proclaimed by the United States Congress. What is important to recognize is not only have we led the way in the United States, our state has the led the way with former Representative Veloria, former Senator Costa but also former State Senator Linda Smith, also former Congresswoman Smith her herself had opened an organization, Shared Hope International, to help rescue victims, child victims in particular of prostitution and trafficking in the South East Asia area. We were the first state in the country to have a task force developed, Anti Trafficking Task Force back in 2002. This came about as a result of a lot of work by members of the legislature but most importantly members in the community, victim advocacy groups, particularly those in the Asian Pacific Islander community because of two murders of mail-order brides, Anastasia King from Kurdistan and Susan Blackwell from the Philippines. We have led the way ever since being the first state in the country to criminalize trafficking, the first state in the country to provide protections, to what have been called mail-order brides. We’ve had three iterations of a state task force against trafficking. We were also the first state in the country to establish protocols through an integrated partnership among policy makes, those in the criminal justice system, law enforcement, prosecutors, victim advocacy groups to deliver services in a coordinated way for victims of trafficking. The current task force on trafficking anti-trafficking efforts will be issuing it’s recommendations to the legislature very soon. They are meeting to finalize those. We have a lot more that we need do. We’re equal distance between Europe and Asia, we’re the closest port to Asia and unfortunately the United State is the destination country for the real evils, evils of people being trafficked, against their will or being coursed. This is something we will continue to work on. I salute this Senate for all that has been done and I look forward to bringing with Senator Swecker additional legislation next year. Thank you.”

MOTION

At 10:57 a.m., on motion of Senator Marr, the Senate was declared to be at ease subject to the call of the President.

The Senate was called to order at 11:41 a.m. by President Owen.

SECOND READING

      SENATE BILL NO. 5524, by Senators Berkey, Schoesler, Fairley and Roach

      Regulating manufactured home parks or manufactured housing communities. Revised for 1st Substitute: Addressing the restriction of mobile home or manufactured home locations.

MOTIONS

      On motion of Senator Berkey, Substitute Senate Bill No. 5524 was substituted for Senate Bill No. 5524 and the substitute bill was placed on the second reading and read the second time.

      On motion of Senator Berkey, the rules were suspended, Substitute Senate Bill No. 5524 was advanced to third reading, the second reading considered the third and the bill was placed on final passage.

      Senators Berkey and Honeyford spoke in favor of passage of the bill.

      The President declared the question before the Senate to be the final passage of Substitute Senate Bill No. 5524.

ROLL CALL

      The Secretary called the roll on the final passage of Substitute Senate Bill No. 5524 and the bill passed the Senate by the following vote: Yeas, 47; Nays, 0; Absent, 0; Excused, 2.

      Voting yea: Senators Benton, Berkey, Brandland, Brown, Carrell, Delvin, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Haugen, Hewitt, Hobbs, Holmquist, Honeyford, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, King, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McCaslin, McDermott, Morton, Murray, Oemig, Parlette, Pflug, Prentice, Pridemore, Rasmussen, Regala, Roach, Rockefeller, Schoesler, Sheldon, Shin, Spanel, Stevens, Swecker, Tom, Weinstein and Zarelli - 47

      Excused: Senators Eide and Jacobsen - 2

      SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 5524, having received the constitutional majority, was declared passed. There being no objection, the title of the bill was ordered to stand as the title of the act.

SECOND READING

      SENATE BILL NO. 6385, by Senators Weinstein, Kauffman, Fraser, Marr, Pridemore, Fairley, Brown, McAuliffe and Kohl-Welles

      Concerning real property.

MOTION

      On motion of Senator Weinstein, Substitute Senate Bill No. 6385 was substituted for Senate Bill No. 6385 and the substitute bill was placed on the second reading and read the second time.

MOTION

Senator Honeyford moved that the following amendment by Senator Honeyford be adopted.

      On page 1, beginning on line 4, strike the remainder of the bill and insert the following:

      "NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds there have been distressing examples in Washington state of homeowners experiencing significant financial hardship due to avoidable residential construction defects. To minimize this occurrence, and to provide relief as appropriate, it is the intent of the legislature that a committee be established to comprehensively examine issues concerning residential construction defects. Such examination shall include, but not be limited to, issues regarding residential construction professional licensing, state building code revisions, and statutory remedies for construction or inspection defects.

      NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) A committee is established to:

      (a) Examine license requirements for residential construction professionals, including, but not limited to, whether contractors should be licensed and what education and training requirements should exist;

      (b) Evaluate remedies at law for residential construction defects including, but not limited to, statutory causes of action for negligent construction or building code inspection. Within this evaluation, the committee shall examine the likely impact, if any, such causes of action would have on housing prices, insurance costs for construction professionals, and local governments' liability; and

      (c) Examine the state building code and determine whether the code should be strengthened to protect homeowners.

      (2) The committee consists of the following members who shall be persons with experience and expertise in residential construction law or residential construction:

      (a) A member, who shall be the chair of the committee, jointly appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate;

      (b) One member from each caucus of the senate, appointed by the president of the senate;

      (c) One member from each caucus of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;

      (d) The president of the state building code council or the president's designee;

      (e) The following seven members, jointly appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate:

      (i) Two residential builders;

      (ii) One residential remodeler;

      (iii) One third-party private residential building inspector;

      (iv) One local government building inspector;

      (v) A residential construction defect plaintiff's attorney; and

      (vi) A residential construction defect defense attorney.

      (3) By December 1, 2008, the committee shall deliver to the consumer protection and housing committee of the senate and judiciary committee of the house of representatives a report of the findings and conclusions of the committee and any proposed legislation.

      NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. This act expires January 1, 2009."

      On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "property", strike the remainder of the title and insert "creating new sections and providing an expiration date."

      Senator Honeyford spoke in favor of adoption of the amendment.

      Senator Weinstein spoke against adoption of the amendment.

The President declared the question before the Senate to be the adoption of the amendment by Senator Honeyford on page 1, beginning on line 4 to Substitute Senate Bill No. 6385.

The motion by Senator Honeyford failed and the amendment was not adopted by voice vote.

MOTION

      On motion of Senator Weinstein, the rules were suspended, Substitute Senate Bill No. 6385 was advanced to third reading, the second reading considered the third and the bill was placed on final passage.

      Senator Weinstein spoke in favor of passage of the bill.

      Senator Brandland spoke against passage of the bill.

POINT OF INQUIRY

Senator Hargrove: “As I read this bill, it says that it allows the homeowner to sue a contractor for violating the contractor’s duty of reasonable care in the construction of the home. If this bill passes, will a person who files a claim be able to recover for pain and suffering, mental anguish, or punitive damages, or is the person’s claim limited to economic damages?”

Senator Weinstein: “No. This bill follows the common law, which allows for the recovery of economic damages only, and the law does not allow for the recovery of damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish, or punitive damages.”

      Senators Hargrove and Tom spoke in favor of passage of the bill.

      Senators Honeyford, Holmquist, Schoesler and Stevens spoke against passage of the bill.

POINT OF INQUIRY

Senator Pflug: “Ok so, does this Senate Bill No. 6385 create an opportune, a new cause action against a previous homeowner of the building or a subcontractor involved in the construction?

Senator Weinstein: “Construction professionals that work on homes can be liable if they violate a duty of reasonable care. Last year’s bill, the warranty bill, was very extensive and this bill is a two sentence bill and I want to leave some of it’s interpretation to the courts to do consistent with the common law over the centuries. So, a lot of it will have to interpreted by the court.”

Senator Pflug: “But probably a subcontractor, what about a homeowner, a previous homeowner.”

Senator Weinstein: “Previous homeowner that did what? They had to do construction work?”

Senator Pflug: “If they hired someone to do construction would they also potentially be liable?”

Senator Weinstein: “No.”

Senator Pflug: “If they did it themselves they might be liable.”

Senator Weinstein: “If they did it themselves they could potentially be liable and that’s what the court would say.”

Senator Pflug: “My final question, does it apply to contractors who do business in Washington even if they are not licensed in Washington?”

Senator Weinstein: “Absolutely. Licensed, unlicensed, absolutely.”

      The President declared the question before the Senate to be the final passage of Substitute Senate Bill No. 6385.

ROLL CALL

      The Secretary called the roll on the final passage of Substitute Senate Bill No. 6385 and the bill passed the Senate by the following vote: Yeas, 27; Nays, 20; Absent, 0; Excused, 2.

      Voting yea: Senators Berkey, Brown, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Hobbs, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Pflug, Prentice, Pridemore, Regala, Rockefeller, Shin, Spanel, Tom and Weinstein - 27

      Voting nay: Senators Benton, Brandland, Carrell, Delvin, Haugen, Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, Kilmer, King, McCaslin, Morton, Parlette, Rasmussen, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Swecker and Zarelli - 20

      Excused: Senators Eide and Jacobsen - 2

      SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 6385, having received the constitutional majority, was declared passed. There being no objection, the title of the bill was ordered to stand as the title of the act.

MOTION

On motion of Senator Marr, Substitute Senate Bill No. 6385 was immediately transmitted to the House of Representatives.

MOTION

      At 12:20 p.m., on motion of Senator Marr, the Senate adjourned until 12:00 noon, Monday, February 4, 2008.

BRAD OWEN, President of the Senate

THOMAS HOEMANN, Secretary of the Senate