Bills linked to investigative reports OK'd

OLYMPIA — Washington state senators approved several bills Tuesday night that stemmed from investigative projects by local journalism organizations.

Senators unanimously approved a bill that further defines financial exploitation of senior citizens, a measure that prime sponsor Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, said was a small piece of a proposed overhaul of laws on long-term care of elderly adults.

The bills moving through the Legislature, she said, were prompted by an investigative series in The Seattle Times that found that adult-home deaths from neglect occur at strikingly higher rates than comparable deaths at nursing homes. She added that lawmakers are taking a closer look at the system and the state's role in it.

Senators also unanimously approved a bill that would order the Department of Labor & Industries to create standards on how to handle chemotherapy drugs.

This past year, the independent nonprofit journalism outlet InvestigateWest reported that nurses who handled such drugs are exposed to health problems. The reports ran in The Seattle Times.

"We would like to make sure that we do what we can to protect health-care workers, pharmacists, even those who clean up on the custodial staff," said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle.

Also on Tuesday, senators approved with little opposition a bill that would make a company responsible for an oil spill liable for consequences of the cleanup.

That measure differed from a version passed in the House, which included extra contingency-planning requirements for tank vessels, and required the state Department of Ecology to request that the federal government contribute to Washington's caches of relief equipment to ensure the best possible response.

The House bill met opposition from the oil industry.

Both bills are being brought to the Legislature because of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the House, lawmakers approved more than two dozen bills, including one to enhance anti-robbery protections for pharmacies.

The pharmacy-robbery bill increases the penalty level for "note-job" or "finger-in-the-pocket" robberies in pharmacies to first-degree robbery.

Rep. Jim Jacks, D-Vancouver, spoke in support from personal experience: His wife is a pharmacist, and her pharmacy was robbed at gunpoint last year.

"It's very easy for someone to come in, show their gun and ask for the 'fast movers,' " large bottles of pills that are frequently prescribed and can fetch a high price on the street. "It's a very high-risk situation."

The House also approved a measure that would remove the statute of limitations on prosecuting sex offenders accused of assaulting minors. Supporters said it would help give victims closure and act as a deterrent to offenders.