{"id":2984,"date":"2025-02-28T13:51:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T21:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/frame\/?p=2984"},"modified":"2025-02-28T13:51:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T21:51:19","slug":"bill-to-make-clergy-mandatory-reporters-of-child-abuse-passes-senate-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/frame\/2025\/02\/28\/bill-to-make-clergy-mandatory-reporters-of-child-abuse-passes-senate-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill to make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse passes Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Legislation to make clergy members mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect passed the Washington State Senate Friday on a 28-20 vote.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, Washington is one of just five states in the country that does not list\u00a0clergy\u00a0as mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=5375&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=False\">Senate Bill 5375<\/a>, sponsored by Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), would require\u00a0clergy\u00a0to report information about child abuse to law enforcement or the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, with no exemption for whether it was learned during \u201cpenitential communications\u201d \u2013 a term applicable to many religions but commonly understood as \u201cconfession\u201d in the Catholic faith.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s long past time that the Legislature steps up, closes this loophole, and protects children,\u201d Frame said. \u201cI 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. This bill is about the state\u2019s secular responsibility to the public interest of protecting children. That\u2019s the most important thing we do here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Previous court rulings on mandatory reporting laws have upheld those laws and described the \u201cstate\u2019s interest in the protection of children is unquestionably of the utmost importance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFar too many children have been victims of abuse,\u201d said Frame. \u201cThe 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\u2019s time to pass this bill once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2023,\u00a0Frame\u00a0introduced similar legislation,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=5280&amp;Year=2023&amp;Initiative=False\">SB 5280<\/a>, which failed to pass because of disagreement whether to include the exemption for\u00a0clergy\u00a0who learned about abuse in the context of penitential communication. In 2024,\u00a0Frame\u00a0introduced an updated version,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=6298&amp;Year=2023&amp;Initiative=False\">SB 6298<\/a>, which proposed a compromise by establishing a \u201cduty to warn\u201d for abuse disclosed in penitential communication. That bill also failed to pass.<\/p>\n<p>The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration. In 2023, a version of the bill that did not have an exemption for penitential communications, like the 2025 bill, passed the House on a 75-20 vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legislation to make clergy members mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect passed the Washington State Senate Friday on a 28-20 vote. Currently, Washington is one of just five states in the country that does not list\u00a0clergy\u00a0as mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect. Senate Bill 5375, sponsored by Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), would require\u00a0clergy\u00a0to report information about child abuse to law enforcement or the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, with no exemption for whether it was learned during \u201cpenitential communications\u201d \u2013 a term applicable to many religions but commonly understood as \u201cconfession\u201d in the Catholic faith. \u201cIt\u2019s long&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":2985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bill to make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse passes Senate - Sen. Noel Frame<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/frame\/2025\/02\/28\/bill-to-make-clergy-mandatory-reporters-of-child-abuse-passes-senate-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill to make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse passes Senate - Sen. Noel Frame\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Legislation to make clergy members mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect passed the Washington State Senate Friday on a 28-20 vote. Currently, Washington is one of just five states in the country that does not list\u00a0clergy\u00a0as mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect. Senate Bill 5375, sponsored by Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), would require\u00a0clergy\u00a0to report information about child abuse to law enforcement or the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, with no exemption for whether it was learned during \u201cpenitential communications\u201d \u2013 a term applicable to many religions but commonly understood as \u201cconfession\u201d in the Catholic faith. \u201cIt\u2019s long...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/frame\/2025\/02\/28\/bill-to-make-clergy-mandatory-reporters-of-child-abuse-passes-senate-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sen. 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