SEATTLE (WA)
KING-TV, Ch. 5 [Seattle WA]
July 14, 2025
By Helen Smith
The law ignited a battle between the state and the Catholic Church over whether designating clergy as mandatory reporters limits the free exercise of religion.
A federal judge indicated Monday that he will likely issue a preliminary injunction against Washington’s law designating members of the clergy as mandatory reporters of sex abuse.
Without an injunction, the law will take effect on July 27. The legislation has received major pushback from Catholic leaders, who claim they are unfairly singled out and would be unconstitutionally required to act against their beliefs should the law be allowed to stand.
Judge David Estudillo with the U.S. District Court of Western Washington did not issue an official ruling Monday, but said he was leaning toward granting the injunction. His decision is expected to come down before the law’s effective date.
SB 5375, which was signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson in May, adds “members of the clergy” to a list of professionals who are required to report child abuse or neglect when they have reasonable cause to believe that it occurred, no matter the scenario in which they obtain that information.
The proposal would make priests mandatory reporters in all contexts, even when abuse is disclosed during confession. That has triggered a constitutional debate over religious freedom.
Top Catholic officials in Washington filed a lawsuit against the legislation not long after it was signed, alleging that the new law violates their First Amendment right to practice freedom of religion and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. That lawsuit was then joined by the Department of Justice.
In a release, the DOJ said the bill “violates the free exercise of religion for all Catholics, and requires Catholic priests to violate the confidentiality seal of Confession.”
The bill’s prime sponsor, state Sen. Noel Frame, said the bill was about not being complicit in institutional cover-ups of physical and sexual abuse of children. Frame cited a years-long cover-up of sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness community in Washington state as the catalyst for this legislation.
At a January hearing, Frame said the bill “fell apart” during the 2024 session, but the revelation that three separate archdioceses of the Catholic church were being investigated for covering up abuse allegations in Washington prompted her to bring it forward again.
“Quite frankly, that made it hard for me to stomach any argument about religious freedom being more important than preventing the abuse, including the sexual abuse of children,” Frame said in January. “I really wonder about all the children who have been abused and neglected and have gone unprotected by the adults in their lives because we didn’t have a mandated reporter law, and that we continue to try to protect this in the name of religious freedom.”
Ferguson has also signaled his continued support for the bill, saying when the lawsuit was filed by Catholic officials: “I’m disappointed my Church is filing a federal lawsuit to protect individuals who abuse kids.”