SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today urged the U.S. Department of Education to immediately relieve the debt burden of thousands of students who attended Corinthian Colleges, joining with several other state attorneys general.

UPDATE:

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s proposal to ban “ticket bot” software has unanimously passed the state Senate, 49 to 0.

House Bill 1091, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D — Sequim, passed the House 98 to 0 on Feb. 16. The Senate version, SB 5456, was sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D — Seattle.

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced the filing of an amicus, or “friend of the court,” brief in a federal appellate court, as he continued to lead an expanding coalition of states in support of President Obama’s recent executive actions on immigration policy. The brief was filed in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas v. United States, a legal challenge by Texas and other states to the President’s immigration reforms.

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today expressed his disappointment with the House Finance Committee for drastically altering Ferguson’s agency-request legislation to raise the smoking age to 21.

Applauds President Obama’s push for federal reforms

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today applauded President Obama’s recent push on a proposal to reform federal payday lending rules, while encouraging state legislators to reject a bill that purports to do the same thing.

$1,000 penalty; $1 for costs and fees per Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s request

SEATTLE — A Benton County Superior Court judge ruled today that a Richland florist will pay a $1,000 penalty and $1 in costs and fees to the state for discriminating against a same-sex couple seeking to buy wedding flowers in 2013.

Nebraska and Oklahoma challenging Colorado legalization initiative

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a “friend of the court” brief today in the U.S. Supreme Court urging the court to reject a challenge to Colorado’s marijuana laws. If the court takes up the case, it could threaten not just Colorado’s law, but also the regulatory structure for marijuana established by Initiative 502 in Washington state.

PORT ORCHARD — A Kitsap County jury has decided that repeat sex offender Rick Allen Monroe is a sexually violent predator and must be confined in the state’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island.

In the interest of public safety, prosecutors from Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Sexually Violent Predator Unit have been fighting since October 2009, to prevent Monroe’s release into the community.