If you are mischievous in Washington, 2014 might not be your year. A change in the law went into effect on Jan. 1, switching the name of the crime of “riot” to “criminal mischief.” The goal, apparently, is to make it easier to charge people who participate in such activities.
Now, that might or might not be relevant to you; it depends upon how riotous, er, um, mischievous you are. But it does stand as one of 11 new state laws that now are in effect, following several regulations that went into effect in July. Most of the new rules represent technical changes that will not impact the daily lives of Washingtonians. But they must mean something to somebody, or else they wouldn’t become law, right?
For example, while driving to your mischievous proceedings, you now may use a car that has a special Seattle Sounders FC or a Seattle Seahawks license plate. Those have been added to the state’s roster of special plates, joining the likes of colleges and universities, military and veterans, environmental concerns, and hobbies such as square dancing. The state offers no suggestions about what to do if you are a veteran who went to Washington State and enjoys square dancing; you’ll probably have to pick just one or purchase extra cars. But given the Sea-hawks’ success this year and their Super Bowl aspirations, you might want to get down to the vehicle licensing office today and pick one up. It’s probably time to replace that woeful Seattle Mariners license plate, anyway.
There are other rule changes in Washington, as well. The minimum wage has gone up to $9.32 an hour, the highest in the nation; but that number is tied to inflation and isn’t really new. And the crime of “retail theft with extenuating circumstances” has been changed to “retail theft with special circumstances”; but that doesn’t matter unless you are a thief.