Yesterday we spoke to Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, about how the slaying of Officer Timothy Brenton has sparked a push to get an assault weapons ban passed by the Legislature this year. But we also talked to Kline, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, about a number of other, er, "progressive" criminal justice measures that he will work on when lawmakers convene this coming January. Among those is a bill that would tinker with the state's Three Strikes And Your Out law.

In the past Kline said he has gone whole-hog, trying to dramatically alter the law. It's been a perennial non-starter: every year he proposes a bill, every year it passes out of his committee, and every year it dies on the legislative killing floor known as the Rules Committee.

But now he says he has come up with a "more pragmatic and narrower version" of the bill. And he says he has at least one prosecuting attorney, who he declined to name, on board. (ED's note: any chance that he's the prosecutor for the People's Republik of King County?)

Under Kline's new proposal, the fine print of which is still getting ironed out, Three Strikes felons will get a chance at parole after serving 15 years if all three of the felon's strikes are of a lesser class of felony, otherwise know as Class B felonies. 

For example, a person who had two Class B felonies (crimes like 2nd degree assault or 2nd degree robbery)  but one Class A felony (crimes like rape, murder, or 1st degree robbery) would still not be eligible for parole.

If the bill becomes law it will reduce the amount of money Department of Corrections spends -- an average $37,000 per inmate, per year --  on incarceration.

Furthermore Kline says it's unethical to lock people up for life for a 2nd degree offense like assaulting someone in a barroom brawl.    

As we already wrote earlier this week here, there are a number of progressive crime measures, including one to decriminalize possession of 40 grams or less of marijuana, that will be heard this year in the Legislature. Many are pet causes that are heard every year in the Legislature. And many are certain to fare better in the Senate than in the House. But with the economy destined to get worse before it gets worse, and with many Democratic constituencies rankled by the lack of money for bread-and-butter social programs, at least making the measures look like they a chance may be a shrewd move for Democratic leaders in an otherwise difficult time.