Slavery Reporting Bill Pt 2
I'm Bob Larson. Do Democrats in the State Senate really believe that some Washington Dairy farmers and fruit growers are slave owners?
It would appear so in Senate Bill 5693 that requires dairy and fruit farmers to report whether or not they use slave labor or human trafficking.
Senator Doug Ericksen says times they are a changin' ... and not for the better ...
ERICKSEN ... "Two years ago, I would not think this legislation had a chance to become law, but unfortunately the current legislature is so radicalized in the last year, I think it might have a chance. We just passed a bill off the Senate floor which basically created a special protected status for people in the country illegally. So, what I once thought was legislation that could never even get a hearing, now, with the radicalization of the state legislature, these bills are actually moving through the process."
He says the entire notion is offensive ...
ERICKSEN ... "I think one of the key issues, with regards to this bill that would say that our farmers in Whatcom county are using slaves, is just how much of an insult that is to the hard-working men and women of Washington state who provide our food."
Ericksen says the change makes it feel like we're in the "Seattle State Senate" ...
ERICKSEN ... "But there are special-interest groups in our communities right now who are feeding these Seattle people that line of logic and so these are people who know what's going on in our farming communities, but they have a very different agenda than trying to protect family farms. Their agenda is very radical and they are feeding that to the people of Seattle."
Farmers say it's an attack on their character based on nothing but lies.
The bill has now passed on to the Rules Committee for a second reading.
