Washington state Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill into law Tuesday that creates a hotline to report hate crimes and “bias incidents.”
Substitute Senate Bill 5427 requires the state Attorney General’s Office to staff the hotline and in effect create a database of maltreatment related to someone’s race, religion, national origin, and gender identity among other categories.
“If the person targeted or affected consents, the AGO shall promptly share information concerning the incident, location, date, and real or perceived affected protected class, of the hate crime or bias incident with local law enforcement,” according to the final report on the law.
The report defines a “bias incident” as “a person’s hostile expression of animus toward another person, relating to the other person’s actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, or mental, physical, or sensory disability.”
The conduct is not criminal, but it does get reported and, therefore, tracked.
Further, the legislation makes clear that it “does not include expressions of support for or opposition to a government’s policies or actions protected under free speech.”
That line was thrown in there to try to keep SB 5427 from running afoul of the First Amendment.
If the amendment protects anything, it’s the right to speak out against government policy.
The interesting part will come when someone speaks out against a government official who happens to fall into one of the protected classes. That person could presumably be tracked by the attorney general’s office for having a “bias” problem, which would no doubt be a precursor to full-on criminal prosecution.
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All of it sounds right out of communist China’s “social credit” system or a throwback to the old Soviet Union. There’s no room to criticize the government or its favored classes of people under those systems.
Democratic state Sen. Javier Valdez, who sponsored SB 5427 told the Kent Reporter on Tuesday, “This new law addresses the concerning surge in hate crimes within our state.”
“It affirms that hate has no place within our communities. It’s more than just collecting reports; it’s about standing up for our neighbors, offering them meaningful support, and fostering an environment where everyone feels safe, valued, and heard,” he asserted.
The Kent Reporter noted, “The collected data will also be required to be made publicly available after redacting personally identifiable information for the protection and safety of the victims.”
According to FBI statistics, Washington police reported 590 hate crimes in 2022.
That year “63 percent of the state’s hate crimes were related to race, ethnicity or ancestry, while 18 percent were related to sexual orientation and 10 percent were related to religion,” The Seattle Times reported.
Julie Barrett, founder of Conservative Ladies of Washington, spoke against the bill’s passage while it was working its way through the state Senate in January.
“The First Amendment gives every American the freedom of speech. Sometimes people say things we don’t like. They say things that hurt us or offend us, but that doesn’t make it a crime,” she said.
“The language of this bill is very ambiguous and leaves wide open for individual perception and interpretation. In fact, most of the [definitions] in this bill are based on perception and are incredibly vague,” Barrett continued.
Yesterday Washington’s “Tattletale Hotline” bill had a public hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Julie Barrett testified on behalf of CLW.
Currently SB 5427 is not scheduled for an executive session to be voted on by the committee. We’ll keep you posted pic.twitter.com/k9QBy7SDu9
— Conservative Ladies of WA (@CLofWashington) January 19, 2024
She then raised concerns about the database of “biased” people that will be created.
“What is the point of the hotline if it’s not to gather data or not to have a monetary reward? This will require taxpayer funding, time and energy that would be better directed at concrete crime that can be verified,” Barrett said.
“We cannot set a precedent of calling speech hate crimes because things offend us. This kind of censorship is unconstitutional and in violation of the First Amendment,” the conservative activist argued.
Fox News reported that an earlier version of the new law that failed to pass had a provision allowing up to a $2,000 payout from taxpayer funds for those shown to be the victims of a hate crime or “bias incident.”
But the version of the bill that ultimately passed did not include this language.
However, victims of hate crimes can file a civil suit against perpetrators for up to $100,000, according to Fox.
SB 5427, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, requires the attorney general’s office to choose three counties to first roll out the hotline among the state’s 39.
It should not be too surprising that Inslee would sign a law that curtails First Amendment rights.
In 2022 on the one year anniversary of the Capitol incursion, the governor got fully behind legislation that would have outlawed “attempts by candidates and elected officials to spread lies about free and fair elections when it has the likelihood to stoke violence,” according to a news release.
Inslee argued that there was “an ongoing coup attempt by candidates and elected officials to overturn our democracy. They are willing to do this by provoking violence, and today I proposed we do something about that in Washington.”
“We can outlaw actions that provoke political violence and in doing so also protect our democracy,” he said.
So this was clearly an effort to go after former President Donald Trump and those candidates and officials in government who support him and who in any way questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election or criticized current election processes.
Those people could then be convicted of a crime and perhaps even prevented from running for office at least at the state level.
Trump had called on his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” on Jan. 6, 2021, but no doubt he could have been convicted under the Washington law.
However, the Associated Press reported in February 2022 that Democratic Sen. David Frock, sponsor of the bill, said that it would not be brought to the floor for a vote after failing to garner the support it needed among his fellow lawmakers.
Inslee lamented the outcome.
So it should not be shocking that he was more than ready to sign into law a snitch hotline for “bias incidents.”
That’s what Democrats do now-a-days: Figure out ways to increase the government’s power in order to monitor and rule over people’s lives.
Communist leaders would no doubt give their nod of approval.
