Today I want to give everyone an update on SB 5280, the clergy mandated reporter law that makes it a legal requirement for clergy to report child sexual abuse that comes to their attention, and that could require this even if that information comes from the confessional. As background, you can read the Action Alert from the Washington State Catholic Conference or my personal commentary on my website. I want to reiterate, I am fully in support of clergy being mandatory reporters, but never at the expense of the secrecy of the confessional.
As an update, I thought I would provide you a timeline of this bill, including votes taken by our elected officials.
Jan. 11 – Bill, which still protects the confessional, introduced into the Senate,.
Feb. 28 – Bill passed the Senate unanimously.
(Sen. Lovelett [40] – Yea, Sen. Shewmake [42] – Yea)
Mar. 21 – First House Human Services, Youth, & Early Learning Committee hearing on the bill, at which Bp. Frank Schuster testified. Video can be found here, with the introduction of the bill at 6:50 (for 5 minutes) and the Bishop’s testimony at 25:00 (for 18 minutes).
Mar. 24 – The House Human Services, Youth, & Early Learning Committee introduced and passed an amendment which removed the “clergy–penitent” privilege which protects the secrecy of the confessional. You can watch the video of the committee discussion here, starting at 1:05:45. The discussion lasts about 10 minutes. (Rep. Rule [42], a member of this committee, votes for the amendment and then votes to recommend that the House pass the amended bill.)
Apr. 11 – Amended Bill passes the House 75 – 20.
(Rep. Lekanoff [40] – Yea, Rep. Ramel [40] – Yea, Rep. Rule [42] – Yea, Rep. Timmons [42] – Yea)
Apr. 17 – The Senate refuses to concur in the House Amendments.
As things currently stand, the House and Senate cannot agree on this clergy-penitent privilege. Right now, all 4 House Representatives for our parish are on record as voting against the secrecy of the confessional, and they need to hear from you. Our two Senators have not yet voted, but correspondences forwarded to me from our parishioners indicate that Sen. Shewmake supports the clergy-penitent privilege, so she needs your encouragement. Sen. Lovelett in unknown, but I recommend contacting her regardless. You can make these contacts using the WSCC Action Alert. Or you can use the Washington State portal here.
Fr. Moore 