Well-meaning WA bill goes too far and gives abusers a way to hide from the public | Opinion

A bill intended to protect victims of domestic violence and stalking has good intentions behind it, but, as written, it could actually end up shielding abusers.

And that’s a potential consequence too dangerous to risk.

Lawmakers need to stop Substitute House Bill 1533 in its tracks and make sure it doesn’t gain any more traction this session.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Sharlett Mena, D-Tacoma, and is being pushed by public employee unions at the state level.

The idea behind it is that people working in state government and K-12 education who are worried about stalkers and harassers would be able to file an affidavit with their agency or school district saying they have been a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or other related crimes.

After that, their employer would be required to keep their work information private. So private, in fact, it would be like they don’t exist.

On paper and in the computer system, they would essentially become invisible.

Once that affidavit is filed, employers could not legally reveal anything about them. No work phone numbers, no work email addresses, no salary information and no disciplinary records could be made available through a public records request.

Rowland Thompson, executive director of Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington, is extremely concerned about the ramifications of this bill.

He said it could lead to thousands of public employees who teach our children, supervise vulnerable people, guard prisoners and make arrests vanishing from the public records system.

Workers could be disciplined and fired for egregious actions and heinous crimes and state agencies would not be able to confirm or even deny that they are — or ever were — their employees.

Just think how such a tool could be abused.

The way the bill reads now, there is no requirement to prove that an employee was ever a victim in need of protection. No police report is needed.

Employees seeking this protection have to file the affidavit under penalty of perjury, but since they wouldn’t have to provide any other documentation, that’s a pretty thin requirement.

The Tri-City Herald has had stories in the past of coaches who abused athletes and teachers who have had inappropriate contact with students. Imagine if someone, shrewd and depraved, used a process meant to protect victims from abusers and twisted it for their own nefarious purposes.

If this bill became law, abusers conceivably could use it to find and harm victims on the job knowing that their actions would be kept secret from public scrutiny.

It’s a horrifying possibility, and concerning enough that it should keep SHB 1533 from moving on.

In addition, public employees often feel agitated that their salaries and other job-related information are open to the public.

But that’s the way it goes. Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent and they must be able to hold government accountable.

This bill not only could protect potential abusers, but also public employees who simply wish to have their work information kept private.

That’s also not acceptable.

There’s no question that victims of stalkers, domestic violence and harassment should feel safe at work.

But this proposal, in its current form, is not the right way to protect them.

This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Well-meaning WA bill goes too far and gives abusers a way to hide from the public | Opinion."