With a handful of days left in the 2026 legislative session, we still don’t know what will happen with some very controversial bills, such as the proposed income tax.
Unfortunately, it’s already clear these 60 days at the Capitol will not end well for those of us who take a special interest in the safety of Washington’s children.
A look at the bills being pushed through by majority Democrats late in this session suggests they place much more priority on misguided policies that would infringe on local control when it comes to subjects like law enforcement, elections and housing.
Some of the anti-child attitudes appear in small ways. When the supplemental operating budget came up for a vote Feb. 27, Senate Republicans proposed an amendment to shift 100 positions within the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) out of back-office administrative roles and into Child Protective Services — the front lines — instead. Democrats said no.
Legislation on setting standards for childcare workers was on our voting calendar March 4. It’s a bad idea overall because childcare is overregulated already, but knowing House Bill 1128 was going to pass anyway, we proposed an amendment to ensure workers are at least trained to recognize when children are endangered, abused or at risk of imminent physical harm. Again, Democrats said no.
Then there are the larger examples, like the House Democrats’ repeated rejection of my legislation to add fentanyl and other synthetic opioids to the 2002 state law that makes “endangerment with a controlled substance” a felony.
Committee chairs typically have the final say on whether legislation moves forward, so it would be easy to blame the chair of the House Community Safety Committee for annually killing this bipartisan bill. Being in the majority, however, House Democrats could simply approve a motion to pull it out of his committee and bring it directly to the floor for a vote.
Their refusal to exercise that option for four consecutive years indicates the failure to see infants and youngsters as victims and protect them accordingly, goes all the way to the top in the House majority.
Of the alarming number of children killed or injured by exposure to opioids, many were known to DCYF. This is because they were in the care of or receiving services through the agency due to repeated allegations of abuse or neglect involving the family.
DCYF must conduct and publish formal reviews of these cases, as well as child fatalities and near-fatalities due to other forms of abuse or neglect.
Months before this year’s session began, Senate Republicans devoted part of our official state website (src.wastateleg.org) to highlighting some of these reviews, calling it “The Costly Toll of State Negligence.”
Our point is to call attention to both the physical and financial cost of the state’s failure to protect people in its care. The cost of lawsuits or settlements tied to agency negligence has become the fastest-growing part of the state operating budget at more than a half-billion dollars.
Cost translates to affordability, which is the number-one Senate Republican priority. Because the well-being of Washington children and public safety are the other pillars of our agenda, this issue checks all the boxes.
Prior to the Feb. 27 budget vote in the Senate, we also attempted to address the growing number of lawsuits through an amendment based on Senate Bill 5144, which Democrats had killed earlier this session.
I am a co-sponsor of that legislation, which would give the Legislature greater oversight authority to hold DCYF and other lawsuit-attracting agencies accountable. To the majority’s credit, the amendment was accepted.
When it was the House’s turn with the budget, Republicans in that chamber attempted a similar move through an amendment based on Rep. Travis Couture’s “safety of children” legislation, which is House Bill 1092.
This would allow a child to be removed to a safe space if a parent’s drug use poses a threat of abuse or neglect. Despite having bipartisan sponsorship, House Democrats had killed Rep. Couture’s bill, just as they did my child-endangerment bill.
While speaking in support of their amendment, which ultimately failed, our fellow Republicans cited some of the heart-wrenching details from the DCYF child-fatality reviews. Regretfully, a Democrat representative from Seattle, posting on a social-media platform in real time from the floor of the House chamber, responded by dismissing the passionate pro-child remarks as “the most lurid Republican talking points you could imagine.”
One of the child-fatality reports posted on the Senate Republican website is from almost exactly a year ago, about a 15-month-old boy found unresponsive in bed next to his father and drug paraphernalia. The child died after being taken off life support, and the medical examiner found fentanyl in his system.
That’s reality, not a “lurid” partisan talking point. The trouble is, acknowledging the 15-month-old was a victim would mean admitting the parents are responsible — and Democrats aren’t good at holding people accountable.
It’s also curious, to use a neutral word, how selective Democrats are about letting families be families versus allowing government to intervene.
The family bond seems to matter less when a child seeks “protected health care services” or when parents want to know what’s happening at school. But when a child is at risk of imminent physical harm due to an adult’s drug abuse — well, that’s different. Keeping the family together becomes the priority, even if it leads to a tragic outcome.
If Democrats dislike the distressing details from DCYF child-fatality reports, here’s a solution: Work with Republicans and treat the innocent children of Washington like the special interest they deserve to be. It’s too late for this session, sadly, but that’s how our state gets better.
Sen. John Braun (R-Centralia)
Senator John Braun was first elected to the Washington State Senate in 2012 to represent Southwest Washington’s 20th Legislative District, which includes most of Cowlitz and Lewis counties along with parts of Clark and Thurston.
John is leader of the Senate Republican Caucus and a member of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, the Labor & Commerce Committee, and the Housing Committee.
Prior to his business career, John served on active duty in the U.S. Navy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and master’s degrees in business administration and manufacturing engineering from the University of Michigan.
He and his family reside on a small farm in rural Lewis County, outside Centralia.
COMMENTARY DISCLAIMER: The views and comments expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Lynnwood Times nor any of its affiliates.
Author: Lynnwood Times Contributor
