Amid a legislative session where budget issues are figuring prominently, one less heralded bill has gained a foothold: SB 5574 passed the Senate March 4 in a 36-11 vote and is now in the House. Sponsored initially by Sen. Claudia Kauffman, D-Kent, it limits police and other use of data generated by GPS tracking devices in cars, declaring the information collected by dashboard computers to be the property of the car's owner. Two other bills -- one that would automatically restore voting rights to those freed from prison regardless of legal debt (HB 1517) and another that would require gender equity in community sports (SB 5967) remain in their respective rules committees awaiting floor votes.
