Bill to designate clergy as mandatory reporters of abuse clears Washington Senate

OLYMPIA – Washington would require clergy members to report incidents of child abuse or neglect under legislation to designate them as mandatory reporters cleared the state Senate Friday.

Legislators have considered adding clergy to the list of mandatory reporters in recent years, though the efforts have ultimately stalled.

Washington is one of five states that does not designate clergy as mandatory reporters. Under state law, a variety of other professions that frequently interact with children, including police officers, nurses and school personnel, are required to report incidents of suspected abuse within 48 hours, with failure to do so considered a gross misdemeanor.

Unlike in previous sessions, the bill passed Friday does not include an exemption for the communication between clergy and a congregation member known as “penitential” communication, such as in the confession of sins.

Friday’s vote was nearly along party lines, with two Democrats joining all Republicans in voting against the legislation.

Ahead of the vote, Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, the bill’s sponsor, told lawmakers that the bill is about “checking on the child.”

“This is about making sure we, the state, have the information we need to go make sure that kid is OK,” Frame said. “What our mandatory reporter laws do is, it compels our Department of Children, Youth and Families or law enforcement to further investigate and substantiate that report, but in the meantime, make sure that child is safe.”

Following the bill’s passage Friday, Frame said in a statement “It’s long past time that the Legislature steps up, closes this loophole, and protects children.”

“I know this is a tough subject for many of my colleagues, especially those with deep religious views. I respect that, but this bill is about the separation of church and state,” Frame said. “This is about the state’s secular responsibility to the public interest of protecting children. That’s the most important thing we do here.”

Frame introduced similar legislation in both 2023 and 2024. In 2023, a proposal that did not contain an exemption for confidential penitential communication failed. The version proposed by Frame last year would have established a “duty to warn” for abuse disclosed in penitential communication, though that, too, failed.

“Far too many children have been victims of abuse,” Frame said in a statement after the bill passed the Senate. “The Legislature has a duty to act and end the cycles of abuse that can repeat generation after generation. When kids ask for help, we need to be sure that they get help. It’s time to pass this bill once and for all.”

Sen. Leonard Christian, R-Spokane Valley, who voted against the proposal Friday, said on the Senate floor that the bill could ultimately put “pastors in prison.”

“It sets up the legal framework to put pastors in prison,” Christian said. “But not for their actions, per se, but rather because of knowledge they may have gained in their job. It’s a very slippery slope.”

Christian noted that mandatory reporting in schools hasn’t stopped problems of abuse.

“But yet, our children still get hurt in schools,” Christian said. “No matter what law we pass, the students are still getting hurt in schools. Why is that? Did this law fix that?”

Christian, who held up a Bible at points during his floor speech Friday, said the bill could force pastors to choose “whether they are going to obey God’s law, or are they going to choose to obey man’s law.”

Christian unsuccessfully introduced an amendment to the bill that would have exempted privileged communication from mandatory reporting requirements. Under the amendment, members of clergy could report information when deemed necessary to “prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm.”

Frame objected to the amendment and said it would create a loophole “that would allow the ongoing cover-up of child abuse and neglect.”

“I do not think we should wait to meet the test of imminent death or substantial bodily harm to protect a child from abuse or neglect, including sexual abuse,” Frame said. “This is just about mandatory reporting laws. It’s just about protecting children.”

Christian’s amendment failed on a voice vote.

The bill will now head to the House of Representatives for consideration. A companion bill in the House has cleared the Early Learning and Human Services committee and is currently in the appropriations committee.