Washington State Anti-Bullying Bill Headed to Governor’s Desk

An inflated anti-bullying bill, which passed out of Washington’s state Senate April 4, made it through reconciliation with the House Thursday and is now headed to Governor Chris Gregoire’s desk.

The bill requires state higher education institutions, such as technical schools, community colleges and universities, to implement anti-bullying policies. HB 1163 also requires public schools to include mental health and suicide prevention in their curriculum, and establishes an advisory board under the Department of Education to regularly report to and advise the Legislature on the topic and how the law needs to be updated to meet current needs.

“This is a great win for Washington’s Safe Schools Coalition,” says Ty Stober, Vice Chair of Equal Rights Washington. “ERW was proud to be involved.”

The bill’s primary sponsor was Rep. Marko Liias (pictured right), a member of Washington state’s LGBTQ caucus.

“Creating a statewide working group on bullying and harassment will help us identify the next steps the state can take to improve school safety,” Rep. Liias told Just Out in early April. “The working group will gather experts to recommend these next steps—things like best practices, recommended curriculum for schools and better teacher preparation.

“This is one concrete step that will help teach students how to cope with the effects of bullying, while the state works to prevent the problem in the first place.”

The Universal Parentage Act – HB 1267 – passed out of the Senate April 13 without compensated surrogacy provisions. Conservatives in Washington had targeted the compensated surrogacy portion of the law rather than attacking the rights and responsibilities the updated law will give same-sex parents, reported Stober.

“The good news is that it keeps the bill alive and would bring the law into sync with Domestic Partnership,” says Stober. “Now there is a renewed fight to get the surrogacy portion added back in during reconciliation between the two Houses.”

Just Out will continue to report on the advancement of Washington’s equality bills as news becomes available.

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