In the Legislature

The Senate Agriculture, Water & Rural Economic Development Committee will take testimony on Senate Bill 5222, which calls for a study to assess the feasibility and desirability of industrial hemp production in Washington. The hearing will be in the John A. Cherberg Building at 10 a.m. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, sponsored the bill.

The House Committee on Labor & Workforce will meet today for a public hearing on a bill that would allow some employers to pay a training wage lower than state minimum wage. HB 1150, sponsored by Rep. Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee, would allow employers with fewer than 50 employees to receive special training certificates that would allow them to pay up to 10 percent of their employees a training wage of 75 percent of minimum wage. The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. today in Hearing Room D in the John L. O’Brien Building.

Seahawks and Sounders FC fans are expected to show up this afternoon when the Senate Transportation Committee holds a public hearing regarding special license plates bearing the teams’ logos. Both of the Transportation Committee’s co-chairs, Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima and Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Des Moines, sponsored the bill at the request of Lt. Gov. Brad Owen. The hearing will take place at 3 p.m. in Room 1 of the John A. Cherberg Building.

ELSEWHERE ON CAMPUS

Licensed massage therapists with the Washington state chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association will be descending on the Legislative Building to give seated massages to lawmakers in an attempt to showcase what they do. They’re calling the day Massage Awareness Day (MAD).

BILL INTRODUCTIONS

Senate Bill 5341, sponsored by Sen. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, would prevent employers and landlords from seeking or using nonconviction records against an applicant. Employers or landlords who violate the proposed law could be ordered to pay damages. The bill also asks the state Supreme Court to redact or seal nonconviction records.

House Bill 1439, sponsored by Rep. Vincent Buys, R-Lynden, would allow autonomous vehicles — those driven by computers and not by actual human operators — to be test driven by their manufacturers on state roads, albeit with a number of restrictions.