(The Center Square) – Less than a year after Washington state lawmakers approved a parental rights initiative for those with children enrolled in public schools, majority party Democrats on Wednesday passed a bill out of the Senate that would rewrite provisions of the initiative.
Senate Bill 5181 is described as amending the “parents’ bill of rights” initiative to align it with existing law. It would modify the initiative’s notification timeline for criminal acts involving students to reconcile it with Washington’s 48-hour rule, as opposed to immediately.
Initiative 2081, adopted by lawmakers in 2024, gave parents and legal guardians of public-school children the right to access information about their child’s academic, medical, safety, and law enforcement matters.
It also required school officials to notify parents if their child was seeking counseling or medical care about gender confusion.
SB 5181 passed the Senate on a party-line 30-19 vote.
Minority party Republicans offered several amendments ahead of the legislation’s final passage, and some were adopted, including one offered by Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro Wooley.
“This simply restores the right of a parent to know immediately if their child has been the victim of a crime or may be involved in a crime,” he said. “There’s no more sacred right or instinctual right of a parent than the care of their children.”
Sen. Claire-Wilson, D-Federal Way, prime sponsor of SB 5181, voiced support for the amendment. It was one of the few times Democrats supported an amendment from Republicans.
“Our intent was always meant to support that a parent is notified in these situations as soon as possible,” Wilson said.
The portion of SB 5181 that would have changed when parents are notified if their child is involved in, or is a victim of, a crime was removed.
Kristen Bridgen-Brown, vice chair of the Pierce County Republican Party, sat in the gallery Wednesday as lawmakers debated the measure on the Senate floor.
“The arrogance was disheartening,” Bridgen-Brown said just after the bill passed. “The disregard for all of the efforts of the money and time and effort that went into the initiative – and the people’s voice being disregarded.”
I-2081 received more than 450,000 signatures to get to the Legislature last year.
Bridgen-Brown told The Center Square she was inspired by minority lawmakers who supported I-2081 as it passed last year.
“The bottom line is there is no transparency, and we can’t be the parents we need to be in advocating for their education and safety,” said Bridgen-Brown, who is homeschooling her daughter. “It made me very angry. I don’t want to be a homeschool mom, but I can’t keep them safe.”
Republicans also offered amendments to negate an emergency clause attached to the measure that would eliminate a voter referendum if the bill passed.
“I can only think of three reasons why we would declare a bill to be an emergency, argued Sen. Perry Dozier, R-Walla Walla. “The first one is it’s a real emergency. The second one would be that we need to get it passed sooner than 90 days after a bill signing by the governor because maybe it deals with budgetary problems. The third reason to declare it an emergency is to stop hearing from the people. If it’s declared an emergency, then it can go through the referendum process. So, this bill can go from this chamber to the next, be signed by the governor, and then at the end of the month, it becomes law.”
Similar legislation, House Bill 1296, passed out of the House Committee on Education last week and was sent to the House Rules Committee.
Last week, a King County Superior Court judge gave I-2081 supporters a win by dismissing a lawsuit that temporarily blocked several aspects of the initiative. It’s unclear how that legal victory could impact current legislation.
