HB 1307 passes committee, bill now up for full House vote

By J-Ideas

The Rules Committee of the Washington State House of Representatives voted Feb. 23 to send a student press rights bill before the full House. 

House Bill 1307, protecting high school and college student media from censorship, could be debated on the House floor at any time. It received approval from the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 31 after a party-line vote – with all seven Democrats voting in favor and all four Republicans voting against. 

The Rules Committee reviews all bills reported out of policy committees, and decides when and if they will be sent to the full House. Each of 24 committee members is allowed to “pull” a certain number of bills to the House Floor Calendar during the Rules Committee meeting. 

HB 1307 is now on the floor calendar or “second reading,” along with 34 other bills. The Speaker of the House decides the order in which bills are up for discussion on the House floor. Legislators can introduce amendments up to this point, which are then debated and voted on. An amendment failed in the Judiciary Committee which would have excluded high school students, but the amendment could be introduced again on the floor. 

When discussion ends, the final version of the bill is placed on the “third reading” for a roll call vote on its passage. The bill must be voted out of the House by March 14 or it is considered dead. 

The House is scheduled to meet for floor debate on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.

Washington State Journalism Education Association President Kathy Schrier applauds the bill moving to the full house.

"Far from making students more likely to embark on irresponsible free-for-all reporting, as some have suggested will happen, the reality is that House Bill 1307 has a sobering quality to it," Schrier said. "When students realize they truly are responsible for what they publish or broadcast in their school media, they take their jobs as reporters much more seriously. This has proven to be the case in schools where 'open forum' student media are allowed to thrive. A number of school publications in Washington State already function as open forums and, interestingly, our five national Pacemaker winners (the most from any one state) last year, were from schools where student publications operate in open forum environments."

The bill's opposition remains concerned.

“As a principal, I think we see student journalism as a great opportunity for students to learn responsibility, to think about the complexity of issue, and to learn journalistic response and integrity," said Arcella Hall, president of the Association of Washington School Principals. "I think when the journalism instructor is well trained, you get the kind of great student newspapers that Washington is well known for. I think sometimes when the right of freedom of speech is looked at more than the educational pieces of a high school journalism program, that sometimes kids are the losers.”

If the bill passes the House, it is automatically sent to the Washington State Senate, where it will have its first reading. It is then referred to a policy committee, likely the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

HB 1307 has 20 sponsors in the House of Representatives, all Democrats. The prime sponsor, Rep. Dave Upthegrove, advised supporters on Friday to continue contacting other legislators about the bill. 

Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly a 2-to-1 margin in both the House and Senate.

Supporters of the legislation include the Washington Journalism Education Association (WJEA), the Washington Education Association (WEA), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, and a number of national journalism and education organizations.

The Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP), Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA), and Washington Secondary School Directors Association (WSSDA) have all come out against the bill. 

USA Today and three of the four major daily newspapers in Washington have published staff editorials or columns in favor the HB 1307. The Seattle Times editorialized against it.