Home Democrats lastly must put a child-safety invoice up for a vote.
That’s what ought to occur to commonsense laws that might prolong current little one endangerment legal guidelines to incorporate publicity to fentanyl.
Senate Bill 5071 was sponsored by a bipartisan group of senators, together with Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, and Senate Minority Chief John Braun, R-Centralia.
It could broaden the scope of the crime of endangerment with a managed substance to incorporate fentanyl, not simply substances associated to methamphetamine.
Underneath present legislation, an individual commits the crime of endangerment with a managed substance in the event that they knowingly allow a toddler to be uncovered to methamphetamine or the chemical compounds essential to manufacture it.
It’s a class B felony, with a normal sentencing vary of three to 9 months to 63 to 84 months relying on the defendant’s legal historical past.
Between 2019 and 2023, a median of three individuals per 12 months had been convicted of endangerment with a managed substance. That’s simply involving methamphetamine. Fentanyl is a much more significant issue.
In line with a report last year by the state Workplace of the Household and Kids’s Ombuds on little one fatalities and critical accidents of children beneath state safety, dying and accidents involving fentanyl elevated from 38 in 2022 to 57 in 2023.
These supporting SB 5071 embody Seattle Metropolis Lawyer Ann Davison, King County Prosecuting Lawyer Leesa Manion and Pierce County Prosecuting Lawyer Mary Robnett.
“When a toddler is uncovered to fentanyl, we have to each maintain the adults accountable whereas additionally addressing the foundation explanation for their underlying dependancy,” mentioned Manion. “The present legislation was written effectively earlier than anybody foresaw the fentanyl disaster impacting our group — this statute should be up to date to mirror in the present day’s challenges.”
Testifying towards SB 5071 was a consultant of the Washington Affiliation of Felony Protection Attorneys.
On Feb. 5, the invoice handed the state Senate by a bipartisan vote of 42-7.
It now sits within the House Community Safety Committee, chaired by Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland.
An identical invoice died on this committee final 12 months, and the 12 months earlier than that, even after passing unanimously within the Senate. Home Democrats, in keeping with Goodman final 12 months, seen the laws as a part of the failed warfare on medicine.
So let Home Democrats take a vote. Go on file. If that’s the assumption, rise up for it and make an argument, don’t merely kill the laws by inaction. Or suggest repealing the legislation on little one endangerment when it entails methamphetamine, if all drug legal guidelines are dangerous.
Leaving the established order leaves Home Democrats open to criticism that they worth ideological purity over defending youngsters’s lives. Because the fentanyl disaster continues to take extra lives, that stance must be politically untenable.
