Tonight, the Washington State House of Representatives is engaged in a lengthy, serious debate about Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5395, the comprehensive sexual health education legislation requested by Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal. ESSB 5395 is one of NPI’s top legislative priorities for the 2020 session and has drawn fierce, heated opposition from Republicans.
The bill passed the Senate on a party-line vote several weeks ago and has been winding its way through the House after dying in committee last session.
This evening, ESSB 5395 finally reached the floor of the House.
Republicans, hoping to kill the bill, filed more than a hundred amendments against it, which you can see on the bill’s summary page. Speaker Laurie Jinkins decided to bring the bill forward anyway, and the House is knee-deep in consideration of amendments as of this hour, with no end in sight.
Rank and file Republican members of the House — furious at the prospect of the bill overcoming the obstacles they’ve thrown in its path — are refusing to abide by the rules and procedures negotiated between the House Democratic and House Republican caucus leadership for the bill’s consideration. That has resulted in multiple pauses during the course of the debate. (When the House pauses floor proceedings, the Speaker declares the chamber temporarily at ease.)
Republicans know that Democrats have the votes to pass the legislation if it gets a final vote on the floor, which is why they’re desperate to prevent the bill from getting to that point. They’re evidently hoping to drag out these proceedings long enough that Democrats just get disgusted and give up.
To prevail, the Democrats will have to outlast the Republicans. That could mean remaining on the floor well into the wee hours of the morning.
If that is what it takes, then so be it. Young Washingtonians need this legislation.
Republicans keep arguing that the people of the state are on their side in opposing this legislation, citing constituent emails and other nonscientific metrics of popular opinion. In floor debate tonight, Republican Representative Brad Klippert argued that Democrats should “listen to the people”.
“What are the majority of the people saying?” Klippert asked rhetorically.
Well, Representative Klippert, a large majority of the people of this state support this bill. We know because we asked nine hundred likely Washington voters (a rather large sample) for their views on EESB 5395 last autumn. And 67% of them told us they supported the bill, with 49% saying they strongly supported the bill.
Here’s the question we asked, and the responses we received:
QUESTION: The Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction has asked the Washington State Legislature to adopt legislation requiring all Washington state schools to teach inclusive, evidence-informed, scientifically accurate, comprehensive sexual health education, which must include “affirmative consent” curriculum. Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose this legislation?
ANSWERS:
- Support: 67%
- Strongly Support: 49%
- Somewhat Support: 18%
- Oppose: 22%
- Somewhat Oppose: 7%
- Strongly Oppose: 15%
- Not Sure: 11%
Our survey of nine hundred likely 2019 Washington State voters was in the field October 22nd-23rd, 2019. The survey used a blended methodology with automated phone calls to landlines and text messages to cell phone only respondents. As mentioned, the poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling for NPI, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.3% at the 95% confidence level.
As ESSB 5395’s prime sponsor Senator Claire Wilson has said, knowledge is power. Young people shouldn’t have to rely on savvy peers or the Internet to learn how to take care of themselves, understand their bodies, and maintain appropriate relationships built on consent and honest communication.
As our research demonstrates, the vast majority of Washington voters agree with Senator Claire Wilson and proponents of ESSB 5395.
The opposition to this bill may be vocal and passionate, but opponents of this legislation do not speak for a majority of Washingtonians.
The Washington State House of Representatives must pass ESSB 5395.
We at NPI thank Speaker Laurie Jinkins for her commitment to the young people of Washington. Choosing to move forward with a floor debate in the face of the House Republicans’ desperate tactics couldn’t have been an easy decision. But a successful vote in support of this bill will be a great outcome for Washingtonians.
10 Comments
Your question to voters is misleading. To get an accurate voter “support” [figure] you need to include all the bill entails. There are many good lessons. Including ones on bullying, diversity, friendship, and abuse. However, it’s the rest of the bill that includes sexual knowledge that is not age appropriate and lots that will only be confusing to brains that aren’t developed enough to comprehend the complexity.
I would appreciate reading a “statistic” that comes from a true study of those who understand the 600+ page bill. I’ve read it, have you?
Claire, you obviously haven’t read the bill, or else you wouldn’t be making provably false comments about it in public. Engrossed Senate Substitute Bill 5395 is four pages long, not more than six hundred as you claim. Our staff *has* read the bill, as well as its previous versions and the nonpartisan staff analysis, which I highly commend to your attention. The latest nonpartisan staff analysis is available here.
With regards to our question, you are incorrect. The question is not misleading. It is neutrally worded and fair. It states key facts about the bill, including who is requesting it and what it seeks to accomplish. The language used in the question was actually derived from the bill, which, as I mentioned, our staff has read.
The bill’s synopsis is as follows:
Section 1 of the bill amends an existing statute to declare:
The above is what the law will say if the bill is approved.
Now consider the language of our question:
As you can see, the language for our question was derived from the bill itself. The question accurately describes the bill and is therefore not misleading.
You are also incorrect in your assertion that the bill mandates curriculum that isn’t age appropriate. It’s the opposite: the bill explicitly states that curriculum must be “age appropriate”. If you read further, you’ll see the bill’s requirements that curriculum must be scientifically vetted and medically accurate are defined; there is an explanation of what that means. The bill is supported by the medical and public health community, by the way.
Next time, do some research before you comment. It’ll do you good! 🙂
What are the differences between HB 2184 and SB 5395? It seems the SB 5395 has passed both House and Senate, whereas HB 2184 hasn’t gotten out of the House. Are these bills fundamentally different?
Thanks for the question, Makenzie.
HB 1407 was the original companion to SB 5395, but it did not advance. HB 2184 was introduced very late last session and got all the way to Appropriations before being shelved. It’s dead for the session.
Here you can see a cool interactive comparison between the last version of HB 2184 before it was shelved and the version of SB 5395 that was voted upon by the House.
There are multiple versions of each of these bills, so you have to specify which documents you want to compare for our staff to properly answer your question. For example, maybe you want to know what the differences are between the original bills in the House and Senate. Or maybe you want to know the differences between the last bill the House and Senate considered. The comparison linked above is between two drafts of this legislation authored in the House, one of which replaced a bill that came over from the Senate.
Confusing, we know!
The House and Senate have not yet agreed upon the language they want. That’s the next step in this process: reconciliation.
If the Senate likes the House’s changes to its bill, it will vote to concur, and then Inslee will get the bill. If the Senate doesn’t like the changes, it can ask the House to recede from its amendments. That puts the ball back in the House’s court. If the House stands down, the bill would go to the Governor. If not, then a conference committee would be appointed to negotiate a final version, which would be approved or rejected in an up-or-down vote.
When the majority makes the law, then the majority will have to answer to some body. Don’t forget who created us all. Remember it is dreadful thing to fall into the court of the judge of all judges. Hope we are not being judged already…
The majority that voted for this bill was elected by the people of the State of Washington. Representative government at work!
Two of my representatives and senator are deaf. I called and emailed them about this sex education bill, and have not got any replies back! And you have [the] nerve to say they represent my family or my relatives, who also contacted them without success. None of them are our representatives, when they have deaf ears toward their constituents!
This comment has been edited by NPI for grammar.
Just because you have not received a reply back yet doesn’t mean your representatives are “deaf”, as you claim. State legislators usually have a staff of one or two people and it can take time to respond to everyone. You’re more likely to receive a response if your message is coherent and polite in tone.
OSPI [the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction] also conducted a survey of more than 10,000 people (ten times more than your survey) asking, “Should comprehensive, age-appropriate, medically accurate sexual health education be required for all students in grades K‑12?” and 58% responded, “No”.
OSPI’s survey was not representative of the electorate. The respondents were self-selected, and right wing groups mobilized their members to complete the survey in order to skew the result in their favor. So it doesn’t matter that the number of respondents was higher than in our survey. Public opinion research is a science. A survey consisting of responses that is not a scientifically valid sample is not comparable to a survey that did utilize the scientific method, as ours did.
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