State Senate: Democratic majority
State House: Democratic majority
Governor: Jay Inslee (D)
Attorney General: Bob Ferguson (D)
Summary:
Washington State’s government has a clear Democratic majority across its legislative and executive branches. In the state Senate, Democrats hold a 29-20 majority, while in the House of Representatives, they maintain a 58-40 majority. Recently passed laws include measures to protect employee freedom of speech in the workplace, limitations on SLAPP lawsuits, and creating new criminal penalties for creating, possessing, or viewing AI-generated child pornography.
Other bills introduced but not yet passed include measures to add free speech protections and workshops on college campuses, protecting the right of public sector employees to pray, and limiting the governor’s emergency powers. A particularly alarming proposal is HB 1333:, which would create a Domestic Violent Extremism Commission that would, among other roles, work to “combat misinformation.” The bill has been introduced twice but has not yet progressed.
Key Policymakers:
- Sen. Karen Keiser [D], Sen. John Braun [R], Sen. Mike Padden [R], Sen. Mark Mullet [D]
- Rep. Mary Fosse [D], Rep. Tina Orwall [D]
Legislative Activity:
HB 1940/ SB 5778 (Signed into Law): Prohibits an employer from taking adverse action against an employee for refusal to attend or participate in an employer-sponsored meeting or refusal to listen to speech, the primary purpose of which is to communicate the employer’s opinion concerning religious or political matters. An aggrieved employee may bring a civil action within 90 days of the alleged violation. The court may award a prevailing employee all appropriate relief, including injunctive relief, reinstatement, back pay and reestablishment of benefits, and any other appropriate relief considered necessary by the court. Introduced by Rep. Mary Fosse [D] and Sen. Karen Keiser [D] in Jan. 2024. Passed both chambers largely along partisan lines and signed into law on March 28, 2024.
SB 6103: A bill requiring that beginning with the 2024-25 academic year, each institution of higher education shall take reasonable steps to ensure that the institution of higher education presents, and each incoming student participates in a free speech fundamentals workshop. The scope of the workshop must include: Instruction on each institution of higher education’s academic freedom and free speech policies; potential examples of violations of free speech policies; and the types of speech that are protected. Each institution of higher education is strongly encouraged to use course material developed in consultation with experts in constitutional law and freedom of speech. Introduced by Sen. John Braun [R] in Jan. 2024 but has not progressed.
SB 6104: A bill requiring the boards of regents of the state universities, the boards of trustees of the regional universities, The Evergreen State College, and the boards of trustees of each community and technical college district, in collaboration with faculty and students, shall each adopt a free speech policy statement. Bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. John Braun [R] and Sen. Emily Randall [D] in Jan. 2024 but has not progressed.
HB 1618 (2020): Clarifies that public employees may pray with and for one another, as in other public forums, without fear of prior restraint, discrimination, or censorship based on the content of their speech, or any civil or criminal liability for freely exercising such rights. Republican-only bill introduced by Rep. Jesse Young [R] in Jan. 2020 but did not progress.
HB 1381 (2022): Limiting the governor’s emergency powers, ensuring legislative balance of power, and regulating government agency emergency authority. Republican-only bill introduced by Rep. Vicki Kraft [R] in Jan. 2022 but did not progress.
SB 5009 (Signed into Law) (2021): This Act adopts the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (“the Act”) authored by the Uniform Law Commission. The Uniform Law Commission provides states with non-partisan legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. The Act was adopted by the Uniform Law Commission in October 2020. The Act protects the public’s right to engage in activities protected by the First Amendment without abusive, expensive legal retaliation. Specifically, the Act combats the problem of strategic lawsuits against public participation, also called “SLAPPs.” A SLAPP may come in the form of a defamation, invasion of privacy, nuisance, or other claim, but its real goal is to entangle the defendant of a SLAPP in expensive litigation and stifle the ability to engage in constitutionally protected activities. Bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. Mike Padden [R] in Jan. 2021, passed both chambers nearly unanimously, and signed into law on May 12, 2021.
HB 1999/ SB 5962 (Signed into Law): Expands certain criminal offenses prohibiting the dealing in, sending or bringing into the state of, possessing of, or viewing of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct to include circumstances involving fabricated depictions of an identifiable minor. Establishes the offense of Disclosing Fabricated Intimate Images, which a person commits if the person discloses a fabricated intimate image of another person and knows or should know that the depicted person has not consented to disclosure, and that disclosure would cause harm to the depicted person. Bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Tina Orwall [D] and Sen. Mark Mullet [D] in Jan. 2024, passed both chambers unanimously and signed into law on March 14, 2024.
SB 6184: A bill relating to deepfake artificial intelligence-generated pornographic material involving minors. A person commits the crime of generating obscene images if the person knowingly views, accesses, creates or possesses and retains a film, videotape, photograph, or other visual representation showing a computer generated image that is indistinguishable from an actual and identifiable minor under the age of 16 years engaged as a subject of sadomasochistic abuse; or engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. Anna Rivers [R] in Jan. 2024 but has not progressed and was superseded by SB 5962 becoming law.
HB 1333: The Domestic Violent Extremism Commission (Commission) is established to establish a comprehensive public health and community-based framework for responding to domestic violent extremism. The Commission consists of 15 members. The duties of the Commission include identifying community-led and evidence-based solutions to combat disinformation and misinformation, address early signs of radicalization, and develop a public health-style response; evaluating any future data-tracking recommendations around domestic violent extremism; and evaluating current legal tools and making recommendations for potential new legislation and regulations to address domestic violent extremism. Opposed by the Washington Policy Center. Democrat-only bill introduced by Rep. Bill Ramos [D] in Jan. 2023, voted out of committee on a party-line vote in Feb. 2023 and was re-introduced in Jan. 2024 but has not progressed since.
Legal Actions:
Federal judge dismisses John Stockton, Kennedy Jr. lawsuit against AG Ferguson. On May 22 2024, a federal judge agreed with Attorney General Bob Ferguson, dismissing a lawsuit filed by former basketball player John Stockton, two doctors accused of spreading COVID-19 misinformation, and an organization founded by presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The lawsuit, filed in March in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, attempted to stop the Washington Medical Commission from enforcing its unprofessional conduct regulations against the physicians. The commission charged doctors Thomas Siler and Richard Eggleston with unprofessional conduct for spreading COVID misinformation in newspaper opinion columns and online. Neither physician has been sanctioned by the commission, as its proceedings are ongoing.
“Adding famous names to a baseless lawsuit can’t change what it is,” Ferguson said. “If you want to practice medicine in Washington, you just play by the rules. These doctors must face the medical commission and answer for their actions.”
Following public complaints and an investigation, the Washington Medical Commission charged Eggleston with unprofessional conduct in August of 2022 related to newspaper articles he wrote about COVID-19. His articles “minimized the deaths from the virus, falsely stated that COVID tests are inaccurate, and that vaccines to combat the virus are harmful and ineffective, and claimed the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin is a safe, effective treatment for COVID-19.” In March, plaintiffs filed the latest lawsuit against Washington Medical Commission Executive Director Kyle Karinen and Attorney General Ferguson, seeking to block the commission from pursuing its investigation against the doctors.
