(Washington, D.C.) Two Democratic state lawmakers are trying again to require clergy members in Washington to report child abuse or neglect, including when it is disclosed to them by a congregant during confession.
Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, and Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, introduced legislation to add clergy to the state’s roster of professions whose members must inform law enforcement if they believe a child has been harmed.
Frame’s Senate Bill 5375 will get its first hearing Tuesday afternoon in the Senate Human Services Committee.
This is the third straight session that the issue will be debated. Past efforts failed when the two legislative chambers disagreed on whether to protect what’s heard in confessions. Frame and Walen hope majorities in the House and Senate can agree this time.
“It’s been far too long that we’ve failed to close this loophole and provide the protections children need from abuse,” Frame said. “I know this is a hard subject for many of my colleagues, especially those with deep religious views. I also know far too many children have been victims of abuse — the Legislature has a duty to act. This is a proposal that can protect kids and get the votes to pass this year.”
Walen said she pre-filed her bill to get discussions rolling early in the House.
“We’ve had a lot of tough conversations,” she said. “If you hear in confession that a child is in danger you have a duty to do something about it. I am trying to protect kids.”
The Washington State Catholic Conference opposes the legislation. The conference is the “public policy voice” of the Catholic Bishops of the Archdiocese of Seattle, the Diocese of Spokane, and the Diocese of Yakima.
“We remain willing to have clergy as mandatory reporters but Catholic priests cannot reveal what is said in the confessional,” Jean Welch Hill, the organization’s executive director, wrote in an email. “If they comply with the bill as it is written, the priest will be automatically excommunicated. To demand that a priest choose between compliance with the law or the loss of his lifelong vocation is exactly what the First Amendment is supposed to protect against.”
Walen, who is not Catholic, said she thinks there is “some space” to save kids who are in imminent danger without defrocking Catholic priests.
Supporters of the legislation are better organized this year. They’ve formed the Clergy Accountability Coalition and enlisted a lobbyist to deliver their message to lawmakers.
“Of course, the greatest obstacle will be the Catholic bishops of the state and their ability to raise fears framing this as an attack on freedom of religion and the seal of confession,” Tim Law of the Catholic Accountability Project wrote in an email.
Familiar turf
Washington is one of a handful of states without a law making clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect.
State law requires teachers, police, registered nurses, social service counselors and members of several other professions to report to law enforcement or the state Department of Children, Youth and Families if they have reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect.
Senate Bill 5375 and House Bill 1211 would add clergy to the list and remove their privilege to keep information shared in penitent communications confidential. They would retain the privilege to not be compelled to testify in a court case or criminal proceeding.
For three years, protection of what is said in the confessional has been the dividing line between the Senate and the House.
In 2023, the Senate unanimously passed Frame’s bill that exempted clergy from disclosing information obtained in the confessional. But the House removed the exemption in the version it approved on a strong bipartisan vote. Senators insisted on their position and the bill lapsed.
Last year, Frame crafted what she described as a “delicate” and “very narrowly defined compromise” with the Washington State Catholic Conference. It preserved the clergy-penitent privilege. But, under the legislation, if a religious leader heard a child may be at imminent risk of harm in a confession and in another setting, when they were not carrying out their work as a religious leader, they had a responsibility to contact authorities.
The Senate passed the bill but it lapsed in a House committee.
This year’s legislation does essentially what the House has sought the past two sessions — making clergy mandatory reporters including what they hear in confessions.
“Mandating that priests violate their vows and lose their vocation will not result in better outcomes for children,” Hill said. “What would help is better training for all mandatory reporters so they recognize the signs of abuse and make the reports sooner.”
She pointed to Senate Bill 5386 as a “more impactful” approach without infringing on the constitutional rights of clergy and people of faith. The bill would ensure teachers and staff in public schools, who are mandatory reporters, receive training in “trauma-informed and survivor-centered responses” to sexual abuse, misconduct, and assault.
Sen. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, wrote the legislation. It had not been scheduled for a hearing as of Friday last week.
This story first appeared on Washington State Standard.
