Washington lawmakers propose bill requiring clergy to report child abuse

In response to InvestigateWest reporting on Jehovah’s Witnesses covering up allegations of sexual assault, Washington state lawmakers introduced a bill last week that would make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect.

Senate Bill 5280, and its companion bill in the state House, would make it illegal for clergy not to report sexual abuse allegations to authorities unless the information came in the form of a confession. Currently, Washington is one of a handful of states in the country that do not list clergy as mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect at all.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, who said she was motivated to change the law after reading InvestigateWest’s reporting last year examining alleged sexual assault cover-ups by Jehovah’s Witnesses and Washington’s relatively weak state laws regarding clergy’s reporting requirements.

“I just think the idea that clergy have a duty to report when they hear about [sexual abuse] has got to be a no-brainer,” Frame said. “It’s about protecting children.”

Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, sponsored the House bill. Frame added that she has collaborated on the bill with former state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, who tried to change the law in the 2000s following Catholic Church sex abuse scandals.