Senate supports sex-ed measure
After hours of emotional debate, the state Senate voted Wednesday to ban abstinence-only sex education in public schools.
Democrats called it a simple matter of public health, saying kids need complete, medically accurate information if they’re going to avoid pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. More than 80 percent of pregnancies for women 20 and younger are unintended, said Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent.
Republicans and a few Democratic allies argued that banning abstinence-only instruction strips power from local school boards. They said the bill will force districts – unless they forsake sex education completely – to hew to state-written curriculum guidelines that one lawmaker called “repulsive.”
“No parent wants a fourth-grader to be talking about sex and anuses,” said Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, citing a bingo-style body-part game that’s included in one such curriculum. “Let no one mistake what is happening here today,” Roach said at one point. “This is the agenda of the far left.”
An estimated 30 percent of the state’s school districts limit sex-education curriculum to abstinence only.
Sports facilities: Measures to build a new arena for the Seattle SuperSonics and a NASCAR racetrack in the state failed to make it past a key legislative deadline. But supporters said the projects are still very much alive.
Monday was the deadline for House and Senate budget committees to report out bills that have fiscal impact, but nothing with a price tag is ever really dead while the Legislature is in town. “Our lobbyists are working every day,” said Jim Kneeland, a spokesman for Sonics owner Clay Bennett. “We feel the more information they (lawmakers) get, the more likely it will get through.”
Home warranties: Nearly a decade after such a bill was first proposed, the state Senate on Thursday voted to require longer, better warranties on new homes – and to make it easier for the buyer to sue builders over defects. Home builders are trying hard to kill the bill, which now goes to the House. With the increased threat of lawsuits and repairs, they say, insurance costs for builders – and the cost of homes – will surge.
Shield law: A measure that would keep journalists who refuse to reveal confidential sources out of jail cleared the state Senate on Thursday, a new protection one lawmaker argued gave the press too much power. The measure passed on a 41-7 bipartisan vote, with one lawmaker excused. The House unanimously passed a similar measure last month, and leaders will decide which bill will move forward to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign the measure.