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PLB Legislature introduced in WA Legislature


Doug

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House Bill 2619 Sponsors

 

Here they are folks. Doubtless, they're 'way' more knowledgeable about mountaineering and PLBs, ELTs and EPIRBs than anyone else!

 

Here's their contact information. Let's have our voices heard gang, especially the professional guides among us (read real government intrusion here).

 

Link to their emails:

 

 

 

Rep. Sherry Appleton

(D) 23rd LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

424 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7934

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Jim Jacks

(D) 49th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

322 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7924

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Roger Goodman

(D) 45th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

320 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7878 District Office:

(425) 739-1810

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Marko Liias

(D) 21st LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

434 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7972 District Office:

(425) 776-7959

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. John McCoy

(D) 38th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

132A Legislative Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7864 District Office:

(425) 257-1769

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Jim Moeller

Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore

(D) 49th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

436A Legislative Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7872

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Mary Helen Roberts

(D) 21st LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

315 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7950 District Office:

(425) 744-3130

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Geoff Simpson

(D) 47th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

426 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7918

E-mail

 

 

Rep. Brendan Williams

Majority External Relations Leader

(D) 22nd LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

132F Legislative Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7940

E-mail

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to the Nanny State, you can always count on finding a "D" after the legislator's name. :rolleyes:

 

Don't you find it interesting that someone like me, bleeding heart liberal, is the one outing them?

 

Nice one Doug!

Great Sluething as well.

Hey Fairweather, how about using that typing energy to "do something about it" other than spraying about political affiliation. Just saying.

Edited by Pilchuck71
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ok, not to say anyone here (including me) is lazy, but a couple of folks on NWHikers did some background checking and it seems this HB is sponsored by Rep. Marko Liias of Snohomish Co. (find him and more info on this on Facebook). It apparently introduced by a constituent and possible political ally Kevin Stoltz, the Mukilteo City Council VP who happens to own a startup company that (gasp)provides satellite based emergency locator beacons to individuals engaged in activities in the wilderness. He sells and rents them.

 

You know, there were probably no laws broken here but this sure smells fishy.

 

This action is called special interest group. It happens all the time with crap at the political level at the local, state, and federal levels. Nothing new but it does help to use it as ammunition against the bill.

 

Kevin Stoltz's company: http://www.plbrentals.com

 

Interesting comment:

 

http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/personal-locator-beacons-or-personal-body-locators/

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House Bill 2619 Sponsors

 

Here they are folks. Doubtless, they're 'way' more knowledgeable about mountaineering and PLBs, ELTs and EPIRBs than anyone else!

 

Here's their contact information. Let's have our voices heard gang, especially the professional guides among us (read real government intrusion here).

 

Link to their emails:

 

 

 

Rep. Sherry Appleton

(D) 23rd LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

424 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7934

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Jim Jacks

(D) 49th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

322 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7924

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Roger Goodman

(D) 45th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

320 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7878 District Office:

(425) 739-1810

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Marko Liias

(D) 21st LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

434 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7972 District Office:

(425) 776-7959

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. John McCoy

(D) 38th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

132A Legislative Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7864 District Office:

(425) 257-1769

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Jim Moeller

Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore

(D) 49th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

436A Legislative Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7872

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Mary Helen Roberts

(D) 21st LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

315 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7950 District Office:

(425) 744-3130

E-mail

 

 

 

Rep. Geoff Simpson

(D) 47th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

426 John L. O'Brien Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7918

E-mail

 

 

Rep. Brendan Williams

Majority External Relations Leader

(D) 22nd LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Olympia Office:

132F Legislative Building

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

(360) 786-7940

E-mail

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to the Nanny State, you can always count on finding a "D" after the legislator's name. :rolleyes:

 

Don't you find it interesting that someone like me, bleeding heart liberal, is the one outing them?

 

Nice one Doug!

Great Sluething as well.

Hey Fairweather, how about using that typing energy to "do something about it" other than spraying about political affiliation. Just saying.

 

Voting against the party which has traditionally supported this kind of crap is doing just that.

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More fun quotes by Kevin Stoltz:

 

http://www.plbrental.com/articles/PR070924.asp

 

Why wouldn’t a person hiking solo carry a PLB? “There are a number of reasons but the biggest one is people just don’t know they exist and how easy they are to get a hold of”, says Kevin Stoltz, President of PLB Rentals, LLC. “We are continually working to improve public awareness of PLBs so people will choose to bring one along, even on day hikes. Nobody thinks they’re going to get into an emergency situation, but anyone who is out in the wilderness should carry a PLB…just in case. If you get lost, injured, or stranded in the wilderness, a PLB can save your life.”

 

Public awareness by legislation ... legislate this fucker

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From requiring everyone to carry a PLB, it's not that much of a step to requiring everyone to get implanted with a locator chip. The next step after that is a"control" chip; these have already been successfully used in experiments with insects and lab rats to control motion and behavior.

_________________________________________________

 

"Humanoid Units # 11879 through # 32004 deploy to Sector 14 immediately".... :eveeel::rolleyes:

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requiring everyone to carry a PLB outdoors (above timberline)?

sorry, maybe at all the state parks in indiana or something, but really, you think enforcement on the ground in the great outdoors of washington state is going to be even remotely possible? Not a chance.

Edited by Water
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HOUSE BILL 2619

_____________________________________________

State of Washington 61st Legislature 2010 Regular Session

By Representatives Liias, Roberts, Moeller, Simpson, McCoy, Jacks,Williams, Goodman, and Appleton

Prefiled 01/08/10. Read first time 01/11/10. Referred to Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.

 

AN ACT Relating to electronic signaling devices; and adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW.

 

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

 

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) A person who engages in mountain

climbing during the months of November, December, January, February, and March shall use an electronic signaling device when climbing a mountain at a point above the timberline.

 

(2) A person who guides for compensation an organized group that includes children under eighteen years of age on any mountain above the timberline shall carry an altimeter, an electronic signaling device, a contour map of the area, and a compass.

 

(3) As used in this section, an electronic signaling device includes emergency locator transmitters (ELTs), emergency position indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs), and personal locator beacons (PLBs).

 

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Section 1 of this act constitutes a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.

--- END ---

 

Edit Note: I removed the line numbers from this re-print in order to make the format easier to read. - Chris

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From requiring everyone to carry a PLB, it's not that much of a step to requiring everyone to get implanted with a locator chip. The next step after that is a"control" chip; these have already been successfully used in experiments with insects and lab rats to control motion and behavior.

_________________________________________________

 

"Humanoid Units # 11879 through # 32004 deploy to Sector 14 immediately".... :eveeel::rolleyes:

 

Not to worry, hezaMtguide--I don't think they'll be enforcing this on Mount Si.

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It's striking to note how silly this whole piece looks. It says that you have to "use" the signaling device. So does that mean that on every trip you must trigger your PLB. Are there legal definitions of "mountain climbing" or even "mountain" or "climbing". Is an ascent of a volcano entirely on skis "climbing", does an alpine rout not qualify as not "mountain climbing" if you don't plan to tag the summit but just descend after finishing the technical part?

 

The section about guiding actually has some bad implications. In the guiding world we mostly carry satellite phones, meaning we have the ability to give detailed information to SAR if need be, which makes rescues both a lot quicker as well as usually less expensive. If this passes probably guides will end up carrying both.

 

My experience in SAR would make me think winter mountaineers are the least in need of carying a PLB. They usually either make it out on there own or die. I think it would actually help SAR more if hunters and mushroom pickers (both sports I have engaged in just for the record) carried PLBs, as it's really easy to get lost doing them and usually there are searches each fall for people out trying to get something to eat out of the woods.

 

Does anyone have contacts with Snohomish SAR? It seems like they might care about what there representatives are up to, and would be in a good position to respond in public.

 

You know, when I can scrape together the money I am planning to get one of those new, small PLB's and carry it all the time. And I would never consider guiding without a compass, altimiter, map, and some means to communicate. So I guess I agree with the practices being legislated here, but I'm not sure they should be legislated, and I'm sure that this piece of legislation is poorly concieved and will be utterly ineffective. It's a wast of our representatives time and our tax dollars.

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I asked a friend who's very active with the local mountain search & rescue group what he thought and got the following response...

 

"You're bang on with your assessment. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of a single rescue mission in my past 7-8 years experience involving a mtn climber climbing above treeline in the months of Nov-March. The missions we do have during that time involve exactly what you mentioned - ob skiers, snowmobilers, backcountry skiers, hunters, etc., and rarely above treeline.

"

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Clearly he is an expert based on his quote from his facebook account saying that "it is only like $10 a day to rent a PLB and lnowing the cost of equipment to climb at altitude in the winter this is not much of an expense" (Paraphrased) :rolleyes:

Has anyone besides myself taken the time to write this man?

I am not one to really get too worked up over things but this has kind of put a fire under me.

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