We have now wrapped up 26 days of the legislative session, or almost exactly one-quarter of the 105 days allowed. The full Senate met on Wednesday to approve several (mostly) non-controversial bills, but the majority of our time was focused on working legislation at the committee level.
The big news of the week was the Senate debate on parental rights.
In 2024, more than 454,000 people signed the Initiative to the Legislature, and the Senate approved it unanimously. It passed the House 82-15. Since the Legislature approved the initiative, it did not show up on the ballot during the Nov. 5, 2024, general election.
Just one year later, Democrats are now trying to gut the initiative through Senate Bill 5181. The measure, which passed the Senate on a party-line vote, strips away several key provisions of the parental rights law, and even includes an emergency clause, which denies Washingtonians their right of referendum.