OLYMPIA (WA)
SenateDemocrats.wa.gov [Olympia, WA]
February 28, 2025
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 clergy as mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect.
Senate Bill 5375, sponsored by Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), would require clergy to 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 “penitential communications” – a term applicable to many religions but commonly understood as “confession” in the Catholic faith.
“It’s long past time that the Legislature steps up, closes this loophole, and protects children,” Frame said. “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. This bill is about the state’s secular responsibility to the public interest of protecting children. That’s the most important thing we do here.”
Previous court rulings on mandatory reporting laws have upheld those laws and described the “state’s interest in the protection of children is unquestionably of the utmost importance.”
“Far too many children have been victims of abuse,” said Frame. “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.”
In 2023, Frame introduced similar legislation, SB 5280, which failed to pass because of disagreement whether to include the exemption for clergy who learned about abuse in the context of penitential communication. In 2024, Frame introduced an updated version, SB 6298, which proposed a compromise by establishing a “duty to warn” for abuse disclosed in penitential communication. That bill also failed to pass.
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.