Sen. Matt Boehnke, R-Kennewick/Credit: Washington State Senate

OLYMPIA… Just 10 months after voting for Washington’s parental-rights act, Sen. Matt Boehnke joined every Republican state senator Wednesday to oppose a partisan effort to strip many important rights from the law.

The Kennewick lawmaker made his concerns clear before Senate Bill 5181 was passed along party lines, 30-19.

“We heard the voice of the people last year, loud and clear, that people from across my district and the state, wanted to trust what’s going on in our schools, what’s going on with our students, and what’s going on in our families, especially when we have medical issues,” Boehnke said, speaking to his colleagues in the Senate chamber. “We want to build that trust back into our schools and this bill does not do that.”

Boehnke said the supporters of SB 5181 failed to explain why they are pushing it through so quickly, to the point of claiming the bill addresses an emergency situation.

“Every Democratic senator voted to pass I-2081 in March. Every Democratic senator voted yesterday to do away with some of the most important rights the initiative guaranteed. You wonder what changed,” Boehnke said.

At the beginning of the 2024 session, I-2081 was submitted to the Legislature after 454,000 Washington voters signed petition sheets supporting the measure. Legislators passed the initiative a few days before adjourning, and the new law took effect in June.

“We were told this bill simply fixes some issues with the I-2081 language, but if that was true, why treat this like emergency legislation so the voters can’t respond with a referendum? There’s something else going on here, and the people who want these changes aren’t being transparent,” Boehnke said.

As passed by the Senate majority, SB 5181 would eliminate or weaken parents’ access to school-related medical information, including prior notification when medical services are offered (except in emergencies), notification when medical services or medication could impact health insurance, and notification when school-arranged medical treatment results in follow-up care.

SB 5181 now goes to the House of Representatives for further consideration.

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