It has been a challenging week on the Senate floor. While the majority of our work is bipartisan, there are certain areas of sincere disagreement that I have to speak up about, especially concerning what I view are fundamental rights.
Parents Rights
Late Wednesday night the legislative majority rushed through probably one of the worst pieces of legislation for families that I’ve seen in a long time. Senate Bill 5599 claims to help troubled youth, but the bill as approved really interjects government into the rights of parents to make decisions for their child.
Under this proposed law, parents of a minor who runs away from home and ends up in a shelter or other some “host home” do not need to be notified if there’s a “compelling reason” not to.
I agree that kids who are being abused should have protections, but that’s not what this bill does. The “compelling reason” to not tell parents where their child is focuses on what they call “protected health services,” defined as gender affirming care or reproductive care, including abortions which do not have to be performed by a doctor.
A little known fact is that the state recently lowered the standard of care for this serious medical procedure. Now, any “health care provider” can perform an abortion without parental knowledge. Proponents pretend there aren’t medical risks, including possible sterilization or death, while simultaneously passing legislation requiring informed consent about other health care procedures.
We hear all the time in other legislation how children don’t have the mental faculties to make all kinds of decisions. Those same people are now saying that children somehow have the capability to make life-altering medical ones without a parent even being notified. This bad proposal puts the government between families and suffering kids and it’s plain wrong. I voted against this bill.
Just Get it Over With!
Despite strong federal and state constitutional protections, some lawmakers in Olympia are obsessed with gun regulations.
On Thursday, the Senate Democrats passed Senate Bill 5078, which would create new liability for gun manufacturers and dealers that would basically make them uninsurable in our state. The proposal says that this lawful industry must establish “reasonable controls” related to their products or face penalties for creating a public nuisance if the products are used by a third party in a criminal activity. It’s akin to making car manufacturers and dealers liable for drunk drivers.
You can read my amendment to this bill by clicking here and compare it to the intent section as it was approved by clicking here.
During the public hearings on this proposal 1,563 people signed in support and 2,775 testifiers opposed it.
I spoke against this illogical legislation and ultimately voted against the bill.
Problems with gun violence and crime in Washington are not caused by law-abiding citizens. It’s a cumulative effect of bad laws and a judicial system that lets hardened criminals off the hook when they have guns they aren’t legally allowed to possess anyway.
Imposing this kind of liability will do nothing stem the tide of crime in our state, but it will kills jobs and possibly drive a significant industry out of our state.
One of my Senate colleagues said on the floor that if they want to ban guns, just introduce a bill and let’s debate it, but this incrementalism is not going to fix the problems of crime and gun violence that they’ve enabled.
While some in Olympia are working furiously to restrict your right to protect yourself and your family, they enable insane things like allowing violent criminals to be released without bail, even in the case of a mass shooter. Read more about this recent story by clicking here. The Legislature should stop the pretense that these special-interest driven gun regulations are about protecting people.