Overflow crowd attends Judiciary Committee hearing in Olympia

J-Ideas staff

The Judiciary Committee of the Washington state House of Representatives could vote soon on a measure to guarantee freedom of speech for the state’s high school and college students.

A favorable vote in the 11-person committee would send HB 1307 to the House Rules Committee, the next step in the process of lawmaking in the Pacific Northwest state.

More than 100 people turned out for a Judiciary Committee Friday, Jan. 26, in Olympia with much of the overflow crowd supporting the measure introduced by Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines.

“This is an interesting and exciting issue,” committee chairwoman Patricia Lantz, D-Gig Harbor told the large crowd, which included about 40 high school journalists.

“It is January, a time in Washington state usually known for thick crowds and gray days. But as we left the state capital today, the sun was shining. It was an inspirational day, one where the best of scholastic journalism shone bright, too,” said Logan Aimone, a journalism teacher and publication adviser at Wenatchee High School in central Washington. Aimone testified on behalf of the bill.

Nineteen state representatives have signed on to co-sponsor Upthegrove’s bill, which would be the first to provide free press protection to both high school and college student journalists in one state law.

The bill, if recommended by the Judiciary Committee, would move on to the 24-member Rules Committee. According to Washington law, that committee could approve or reject the bill, or simply take no action, which effectively could kill the legislation. If approved by the Rules Committee, HB 1307 would go to the full House for a second reading. The bill could be amended at that point. After a third reading, the bill would go before the full House in a roll-call vote.

If the bill fails in the roll-call vote, it is dead. If passed, the bill would move on to the state’s Senate. It would go through the same process again. If it succeeds in a third Senate reading, it moves on to the governor’s office for signature.

In 1992, a student press rights bill (HB 2064) was introduced in the Washington House, but never left the Rules Committee.

As predicted before the hearing, students and teachers supported the bill, and came out in great numbers. Although fewer in number at the hearing, principal and administrator groups, including the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP), the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) and the Washington Secondary School Directors Association (WSSDA) voiced opposition.

Said Dan Steele of WSSDA, “HB 1307 would expand those (student First Amendment) rights beyond what is reasonable because student media is school-sponsored media--paid for with public dollars--and administrations have an obligation to ensure that improper actions are not taken in the use of student media.”