(The Center Square) – During a special legislative session Tuesday, Washington state lawmakers did what they couldn’t do during the 105-day regular legislative session: pass a permanent fix to the state Supreme Court’s Blake decision on drug laws, less than two months before a stopgap measure keeping the possession of small amounts of drugs outlawed was set to expire.
Senate Bill 5536 would have made the crime a misdemeanor, but it failed to pass out of the Legislature before the April 23 end of session, prompting Gov. Jay Inslee to call a special session.
By a vote of 43-6 in the Senate and 83-13 in the House of Representatives, the Legislature passed Second Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5536 that will make intentional possession or public use of small amounts of illegal drugs a modified gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail for the first two offenses and up to a year after that.
