(The Center Square) – House Republicans in the Washington State Legislature offered up dozens of amendments Thursday during an executive session before the House Education Committee, but none were successful in slowing down a bill that critics say would undo a parents’ bill of rights initiative passed by lawmakers last year.
House Bill 1296 would, according to the House Bill Report, promote “a safe and supportive public education system through student rights, parental and guardian rights, employee protections, and requirements for state and local education entities.”
In March 2024, the Legislature passed Initiative 2081. The bill took effect on June 6.
I-2081 gives parents and legal guardians of public school children the right to access information about their child’s academic, medical, safety, and law enforcement matters.
Also in the mix: a judge in King County Superior Court granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of I-2081, denying the plaintiff’s requests with prejudice. This means that the case is dismissed permanently and cannot be brought back to court.
Republicans offered up more than two dozen amendments in a futile attempt to blunt what they consider the excesses of the bill.
Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, offered an amendment to limit the term “gender expansive” in the bill.
“What this amendment does is say the Legislature never intended to include things like xeno-gender for example,” he explained. “What xeno-gender is, is people who identify as cats and dogs and creatures and plants. I think it’s pretty safe to say that when my kids go to school and in conjunction with their teachers and other staff, they say they want to identify as a cat, that I should know about that right away as a parent, and that is not a real gender.”
Bill sponsor Rep. Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, asked for no vote on Couture’s amendment.
“The suggestion that any child coming to our schools with reference to any gender expression or identity would be considered not human is offensive and demonstrates sincere disconnect with what happens in our schools currently, so I’m asking you to vote no,” she explained.
Another amendment from Couture got the attention of the Trump administration via a post on Truth Social.
“The underlying bill essentially states that schools can wait 48 hours before telling parents if their child was involved in any sort of sexual misconduct or there was any sexual misconduct of staff,” Couture explained. “We have seen a stunning amount of sexual misconduct and sexual assault by staff in our schools … for God’s sake, please vote yes.”
Couture’s amendment would have required school districts to notify parents immediately if a student were the victim of sexual misconduct by an employee.
Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, urged members to reject the amendment.
“For justice’s sake, we are told to take the direction from them [law enforcement], and that is what we do, and that is what we urge our staff to do, and so I’m going to urge a no vote,” she explained.
HB 1296 passed out of the committee on a party-line vote Thursday, but Rep. Couture told The Center Square Republicans are not giving up.
“The people of Washington are sick of this tyranny, and we want a balanced government that protects our most vulnerable constituents and doesn’t go down the pathway of crazy radical ideology turning into public policy that harms our people,” he said.
Another Republican member of the House Education Committee shared his frustration after the vote on HB 1296.
“I was in a committee this morning trying to do my best to oppose the removal of Initiative 2081, the parental bill of rights,” Rep. Michael Keaton, R-Puyallup, said.
He apologized for growing emotional, reiterating Republicans offered 25 amendments that were all voted down.
“It’s been a very tough fight so far because you know … you show up here with a ton of optimism and hope to be able to get things done,” the freshman legislator said.
Washington State Republican Party Chair and state representative from Aberdeen Jim Walsh vowed to continue the fight.
“They have so miscalculated what people think, and I think they came into this session super-arrogant about what they could cram through, and this is balance returning because they’ve gone way too far,” he told The Center Square on Friday.
