Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights & Culture Committee 7/22/22

Everyone, the July 22nd, 2022 regular meeting of the neighborhoods, education, civil rights and culture committee will come to order.

It is 9 31 AM.

I'm Tammy Morales, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll.

Council member Lewis.

Present.

Council member Nelson.

Present.

Council member Strauss.

Vice chair Salant.

Present.

Chair Morales.

Board President.

Thank you.

If there's no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

At this time, we'll open the remote public comment.

I ask everyone please be patient as we operate the system.

It is the strong intent of the council to have public comment at regularly scheduled meetings, but we do reserve the right to modify these comment periods at any point if we deem the system as being abused.

I will moderate the public comment period in the following manner.

We have up to 20 minutes.

I think we only have a few people here though.

Each speaker will be given two minutes and we will start with, I think we have one person online and one person present.

Is that right, Devin?

Yeah.

Okay.

Let's go ahead and start with in chambers here.

And Mr. Zimmerman, you have two minutes.

Sieg Heil, dirty, damn Nazi fascist mob, bandit and psychopath who speak to us from the heaven.

My name, Alex Zimmerman.

Yes, I won't speak about agenda number one because it's about something about human rights.

Honestly, I never see human right in Seattle Chamber for many years, and I think this disappeared totally.

Classic example right now, look who present here.

Most of these are women of color.

Why?

I'm going to totally confuse this.

Is this a human right when somebody have right and somebody don't have right?

So I see this everywhere, every time, but as I come to Seattle Council Chamber.

For example, they never show my face, probably because I have this big yellow David Stark.

I'm a Jew, so what?

No problemo.

No problemo.

Color, how right?

You don't.

Why?

I don't understand this.

So right now I speak to everybody to listen to me.

We need stopping this because I smell like a Nazi Gestapo rats principle.

It's exactly what is I talking in this chamber for 3,000 times.

Nothing changed for the last 15 or 20 years.

So, can we do something that is justice for all, civil rights for everybody?

Yes, we can.

But before we do this, everything that we need to do is to clean this chamber from this Nazi, Gestapo, garbage, rats, primitive idiots.

That's exactly what's happened.

They always support people who are Democrat.

I am not Democrat.

I'm not Republican.

I'm not independent.

I am a Jew old man.

They say it.

How I write, same like everybody.

Why they never show my face?

They probably scared.

So I come every meeting.

That's exactly what they're doing right now.

Ask them, where is you, my lovely Fuhrer?

Stand up, America!

Clean this dirty chamber from this psycho.

Thank you very much.

We have one online commenter, David Haynes, but I am showing him as not present.

Okay.

I think we are done with public comment.

In that case, I will close the public comment.

Before we move on to the policy discussion, if there's no objection, I would like to invite two community advocates who were able to join us sort of last minute, so they aren't on the agenda.

But I would like to invite Kia Guarino and Yvette Magana.

Kia is from Pro-Choice Washington and Yvette Magana from Planned Parenthood.

And chair.

Objection.

Oh, Mr. Strauss.

Council member Strauss is here.

No objection at all.

Just wanted to let you know, I was able to join just as public comment began.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

So hearing no objection, I'd like to invite Kia and Magana, sorry, Kia and Yvette to join us.

And then we will begin.

Kia, do you want to start and introduce yourself?

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Kia Guarino, and I'm the executive director of Pro-Choice Washington.

And we're the leading organization focused specifically on political and legislative advocacy to advance reproductive freedom in Washington state.

And we have been organizing in communities for nearly 50 years to take down the barriers to abortion access, but also to prepare for the moment that we find ourselves in today.

I'd like to thank you, Council Member Morales, and to Council Member Herbold for your leadership on the critical issue that we're talking about today, and all of you in this committee who are supporting this work.

We deeply appreciate your continued commitment to ensuring that everyone has abortion access in Seattle who needs it.

We are grateful to live in a city and a state that recognize that abortion is healthcare, and the socioeconomic impacts of banning abortion are astronomical.

This important legislation affirms state law by codifying protections for patients and healthcare facilities at the city level.

This, with continued investment in abortion funds like the Northwest Abortion Access Fund and local clinics to meet the unprecedented patient needs we're facing are crucial.

But even with lawmaker support and years of activism, patients in Washington continue to face barriers to receiving quality care.

And this will only be exacerbated when we face a nearly four times increase in patients that will seek care from out of state here in Washington.

We also know that it has taken a great deal of work and time to ensure that Seattle protects abortion today.

And it is all of our responsibilities as individuals to continue to make it easier for everyone to get care, and to speak openly and unapologetically about the importance of abortion as healthcare.

Even in a city and a state that believes in abortion care, patients faced costs and transportation barriers, bias within our healthcare system, rampant physical and digital harassment, dangerous misinformation at fake clinics, and the continued stigma of seeking care.

We must continue to work on ensuring quality care for everyone.

Even now, patients in hospitals across our state are being denied critical services like abortion, reproductive, gender affirming, and end-of-life care because of hospital policies.

And that includes actively miscarrying patients who come here to seek care from other states.

And we are supposed to be the safety net.

Over the past decade, under-regulated health system mergers in Washington have led to fewer and more expensive reproductive health care options, particularly in rural communities, but here in King County as well.

Today, nearly 50% of hospital beds sit within facilities that have those restrictive policies, and that's a 26% increase in the last decade.

This has resulted in near-death experiences for patients and consequences for medical providers who are working to provide the best standards of care We must continue to hold our hospitals to the highest standards of care and to ensure that mergers do not result in the loss of patient life or in the denial of care of those seeking services from out of state.

We also need to do more to ensure that patients are receiving accurate information.

Crisis pregnancy centers, CPCs, or fake clinics are intentionally set up to look like real clinics.

Many are located directly next to real reproductive health clinics and specifically target low-income and communities of color, as well as young people.

But because CPCs rarely offer complete or medically accurate information and often lack trained professionals on staff, patients may leave with dangerous misconceptions about their options.

And early signs of dangerous medical issues may and have been missed.

We are also seeing the rise in privacy concerns with the laws in other states that are actively seeking to persecute people in Washington for providing care to patients from their states.

Unlike medical clinics, CPCs are not required to keep your personal and medical information confidential.

The personal information that is gathered by CPCs may be used as evidence in civil or criminal cases against people who get abortions or who help them get abortions.

As a result, we must continue to explore consumer protections to fight misleading and harmful practices at CPCs.

In this unprecedented moment, we must continue to work together to unlock all the financial and structural barriers that patients are facing.

We know in no uncertain terms that the majority of Washingtonians and the country were against the overturning of Roe.

We also know that it is the leading issue for voters heading into November.

in Washington State specifically.

We must take our responsibility as a sanctuary state and as a sanctuary city seriously, and we cannot take it for granted.

It takes all of us and our continued dedication to make sure that we protect people going forward.

So thank you once again to this committee and to the council members Morales and Herbold for your work and dedication on leading this legislation and for protecting the fundamental right to abortion care.

We believe in the power of this movement and the love that it requires, and we are grateful to partner with you to help patients across the state.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Kia.

Yvette, before you begin, I got a little ahead of myself here.

I should have at least prefaced the agenda today.

So thank you both for being here.

We do have two items on the agenda today.

Council Bill 120374, which is an ordinance that would guarantee civil rights protections for those who have received or are seeking abortions.

and Council Bill 120376, which would create a misdemeanor charge for people who are encroaching on those seeking abortions or gender affirming care in the city.

And I do wanna thank Council Member Herbold and her staff and my staff, Alexis Oliver and Devin Silvernail for their work on getting these bills done, as well as Ketel Freeman and Anne Gorman, who on the central staff side, helped us make sure the language was right.

So with that context setting, Yvette, please go ahead, introduce yourself and let us know about your work.

Thank you, Kia, and thank you, Council Member Morales, for your ongoing leadership in protecting and advancing abortion access in Seattle.

We're so grateful to have you as an ally and champion on this critical care.

My name is Yvette Magana and I'm the Washington State Government Relations Manager at Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates.

It's been almost one month since the Supreme Court overturned nearly 50 years of precedent and eliminated the fundamental right to abortion.

In that time, my colleagues at Planned Parenthood and abortion providers around the country have seen patients who are scared, unsure of where to turn, and being stripped of the right to this fundamental basic health care.

In Washington, thanks to decades of relentless work to defend and expand our rights by leaders here in Seattle, like all of you council members and across the state, abortion is still legal.

Abortion providers in Washington are and will remain open to all patients.

And we're not just here for Washington's State patients, we're here for everyone, no matter what state you live in, no matter who your lawmakers and governor are, providers in Washington are here to welcome you with open arms.

We're already seeing patients from states across the country whose own lawmakers have abandoned them and left them without access to basic health care.

It's because of the strong support and unwavering commitment of Councilmember Morales and Councilmember Herbold that we expect an influx of patients in the coming months and years, and studies estimate that we should expect a 385% growth in out-of-state patients traveling to Washington State to access abortion care.

And so that's why policies announced today are so critical to safeguarding and maintaining abortion access in Seattle.

We want our providers and patients to be safe, protected, and empowered to continue to provide abortion throughout the country, the county, and the state, no matter what.

And let's be clear, we know not all patients who want to travel to Washington to access abortion will be able to get here for care.

The state abortion ban sweeping the country are disproportionately feeling black Latino indigenous and other people of color, people with low incomes LGBTQ people people with disabilities, immigrants, and more due to this country's legacy of racism and systemic oppression.

Abortion is healthcare, period.

And we're so grateful for the leaders here today, all of you council members, and across the state for standing strong and ensuring patients can rely on Washington State for healthcare.

Thank you again to Councilmember Morales, Herbold and all the other members of the Council just for being a strong voice for our providers and patients in Seattle.

We're looking forward to continue to work with you and I will pass it back to Councilmember Morales.

Thank you so much, Yvette.

And thank you again, Kia, for being here.

So we just wanted to set the context a little bit.

We know that, as Yvette said, there will be an increase in abortion demand here in Washington state, most likely to come from Idaho and Montana.

And we know that our services, our capacity is going to be tested.

So we want to start anticipating, start getting ready for that.

issue here and we also want to know that we are doing everything we can to protect folks who are either seeking abortion care or providing it.

So thank you both for being here.

We will go ahead and read, Devin if you would please read item one into the record and then we will be joined by Ketel Freeman and Ann Gorman.

Agenda item one, council bill 120374, an ordinance relating to human rights, including protections against discrimination based on an individual's actual potential perceived or alleged pregnancy outcomes and amending sections.

Oh, short title is fine.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Of the Seattle Municipal Code for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you, Devon.

I think I thought I had included that in my notes.

Okay, so this is the first bill.

And I don't know which of you is going to speak to it, but I'm going to speak to it.

Okay, great.

Thank you very much.

Good morning, Madam Chair and committee members and Gorman Council Central staff.

We have two bills really related to abortion before the committee today.

I'm here to describe Council Bill 120374 and my colleague, Ketel Freeman, will cover Council Bill 120376, which is next on the agenda.

I want to call your attention to the fact that the memo you have received has an inaccurate bill number.

for 120374. We will get that corrected as soon as possible.

No substantive changes.

And council members do have a single staff memo discussing both bills because of the related subject matter and context.

And I'd also like to recognize the research and groundwork Jasmine Marwaha did on the bill that I will describe today.

Council Bill 120374, which is sponsored by Council Member Morales and co-sponsored by Council Member Herbold, would prohibit discrimination based on pregnancy outcomes.

This prohibition would apply both to people who live in Seattle and to those who are temporarily in the city, for instance, having traveled from another state to seek reproductive healthcare services.

In order to prohibit discrimination on the basis of pregnancy outcomes in the Seattle Municipal Code, We first have to define pregnancy outcomes in that code.

This bill would do that and I'll read that definition here for the benefit of viewers of this meeting.

Pregnancy outcomes means the results of a fertilization event and the results of the ensuing pregnancy as experienced by the individual who is or was pregnant.

Examples of outcomes that are the results of a fertilization event include, but are not limited to, live birth, stillbirth, miscarriage, and abortion.

Examples of outcomes that are the results of an ensuing pregnancy include, but are not limited to, hyperamnesis gravidarum, morning sickness, pregnancy-related anemia, preeclampsia, and perinatal depression.

The bill would also add a reference to this definition to the various sections of the Seattle Municipal Code that address discrimination.

And I want to note that these additions would ban discrimination on the basis of an individual's actual potential perceived or alleged pregnancy outcomes, which would provide greater protection than just banning discrimination on the basis of the outcomes themselves.

The bill would put actual potential perceived or alleged pregnancy outcomes on par with other discrimination prohibitions in the SMC, such as the basis of age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

It would give the Seattle office for civil rights, the authority to investigate alleged instances of discrimination on the basis of pregnancy outcomes and to levy penalties upon a reasonable cause finding of a violation.

Thank you, Anne.

Really appreciate the work that you and Jasmine did.

Thank you to Jasmine as well.

Colleagues, are there any questions about what we're trying to do here, creating a protective class for those who are seeking abortion care?

I am not seeing any questions.

Again, I just wanna state the, oh, I'm sorry, Council Member Nelson.

I'm looking at you here, but you're actually over there.

Please go ahead.

This is not a question necessarily, but I just wanna say thank you very much for bringing this to committee and giving us time to discuss this and pay attention to it.

I really appreciate.

Sure, of course.

And again, we're, you know, trying to create a protected class for those who are seeking abortion care, providing it, and or seeking gender affirming care as well.

If there's no further discussion, then I will move that we recommend approval of Council Bill 120374. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

It's been moved and seconded to approve passage.

Devin, will you please call the roll?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Vice Chair Sawant?

Yes.

Chair Morales?

Yes.

I'm gonna give council member Strauss one more go.

Thanks, I still can't figure out how to use Zoom.

Absolutely, yes.

Five in favor.

Thank you very much.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that the council pass the bill will be sent to the August 9th committee.

Sorry, the August 9th full city council meeting.

Okay, Devin, will you please read item two into the record?

Agenda item two, council bill 120376, an ordinance relating to the city's criminal code amending section 12A.09.020 of the Seattle Municipal Code to adopt the revised code of Washington offense interference with healthcare facilities or providers for briefing discussion or possible vote.

Thank you very much.

And we have Kato Freeman here to discuss this bill.

Kato, welcome.

Thank you.

Kato Freeman, Council Central staff.

describe the mechanics of the bill and then talk about the practical implications of adopting this state statute into the Seattle Criminal Code.

So mechanically, Council Bill 120376 would incorporate by reference, would adopt by reference, a gross misdemeanor that's codified in RCW Chapter 9A.50, that's interference with health care facilities and providers.

That state statute establishes a misdemeanor that criminalizes willful and reckless, that's the mens rea, so the frame of mind for the crime, interference with access to healthcare facilities and destruction to the operation of healthcare facilities by actions, and these are the sort of the actions that would be the elements of the crime, physical obstruction, unreasonable noise, trespass, harassing phone calls, threats of violence, sort of things like that.

It would also incorporate the criminal penalties into the Seattle criminal code and those in the state statute range from a fine of $250 a day on $250 and a day in jail for 1st offense to.

$1000 and 30 days in jail for 3rd and subsequent offenses.

So what does this do as a practical matter?

The Seattle Police Department can currently enforce the state misdemeanor.

However, the city has to rely on King County for prosecution.

So adding this section to the Seattle Criminal Code will authorize the city attorney to prosecute these crimes in the Seattle Municipal Court.

So it effectively expands the forums where prosecutions can occur.

And that's, that's it.

Questions straightforward.

Yes, thank you so much.

And, you know, I think the importance of both of these bills is that we, we know Seattle is, you know, fortunate to be able to Seattle lights are fortunate to be able to access.

high quality abortion care easily.

But we also know that lots of people will be coming in from other states and surrounding areas where access to care is not allowed.

And so we need to be ready.

So, you know, the previous bill, for example, as folks are coming from out of state, people will be staying at hotels, people will be eating meals.

We wanna make sure that people aren't targeted in any way while they are here in the state, and particularly here in Seattle, while they are seeking that care.

Similarly, we wanna make sure that if somebody, if there is harassment as people are trying to access care, if there is any sort of interference, you know, putting people in jeopardy because they're trying to seek this care.

It's important that we be able to prosecute that kind of behavior.

So that's what we're trying to do here.

And I will ask colleagues if there are any questions.

Council Member Strauss.

Oh, you can let Council Member Sawant go ahead.

Council Member Sawant, please go ahead.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

I have a question.

I just want to make sure my understanding of this bill is correct.

And I just was listening to what Ketil was explaining.

And Ketil, you talked about the RCW, the state law that's relevant here.

So right now, the laws and penalties regarding Interference with health care providers already exists on the state level.

And my understanding is this bill does not change any of that.

Right now, the Seattle police already have the authority under those state laws to investigate and arrest people who, for example, might attack an abortion clinic.

Right now, because they are state laws, those arrests would be sent for trial to King County Superior Court rather than the Seattle Municipal Court.

The only effect of this bill is to allow the city to choose to prosecute someone in Seattle Municipal Court rather than the King County Superior Court.

But the King County Court would still be an option.

First of all, is that all accurate?

Because my question is, I'm trying to understand, what are the disadvantages or disadvantages to using King County Court versus Seattle Municipal Court?

Is there something there?

Is there a substantive difference?

Or is this mainly about making the statement or reiterating reiterating the statement that the city of Seattle cares about and supports the laws that exist in the state for protecting abortion.

Thank you.

Yeah, so you are correct.

The bill does not sort of take away from King County its ability to prosecute these crimes.

It just allows the city attorney to do that.

So, for example, if the King County prosecuting attorney had a backlog of felony cases or something like that, that they would have to prioritize, the city attorney could choose to prosecute those crimes in municipal court.

There is there may be some advantages to pursuing actions for civil remedies and superior court so in King County Court as opposed to municipal court.

And that's because the state statute reserves certain types of relief like injunctive relief to a superior court to grant that kind of to provide that so.

If somebody was seeking a civil remedy, they still may want to pursue an action in Superior Court as opposed to Municipal Court.

That's a distinction.

But Council Member Sawant, does that answer your question?

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, for now anyway.

Thank you, David.

Appreciate it.

Council Member Strauss, did you have a question?

Yes, thank you, Chair Morales.

I just wanted to thank, as I was having Zoom difficulties before the last vote, I had comments about both bills, just echoing Council Member Nelson and saying thanks.

I know that beyond these two bills, we need to be funding abortion access.

in this upcoming budget.

And when I met with the mayor's budget team just this week, it was the top of my on the list of shared priorities that I wanna make sure that we're funding abortion access.

I know that my team had looked into these bills and I know that you and council member Herbold ran lead, which I respect and I promote.

Just if you're interested in co-sponsors, I'd love to co-sponsor.

If not, totally great.

Looking forward to voting yes on both now on the second bill.

Thank you, Chair.

Sure, we would certainly welcome your co-sponsorship.

Council Member Strauss, thank you very much.

Happy to do that.

Council Member Nelson, did you have a question?

I didn't see you out of my peripheral vision.

Okay, not anymore.

Very good.

Okay.

I don't see any other questions.

I do think it's important just to state, you know, we are already hearing about people in other states and the impact of this Dobbs ruling on, you know, folks in Texas who are being denied prescribed birth control.

People who are being denied lupus medication because it might lead to miscarriage.

Women are getting sterilized rather than risk pregnancy, you know, particularly by a rapist.

Those are some concerns people are having, which is a whole other a set of really jarring issues to be thinking about.

But the impacts of this decision are real and are already being felt in a dramatic and in many cases, life-threatening way.

So it's really important that we, as a city and a state that is providing access to care, that we make sure people who are coming here are protected and people who are providing this care are protected as well.

So if there are no other questions or comments, I'm not seeing any, I will move that Council Bill 120376, I will move passage.

Can I get a second?

Second.

Thank you very much.

It's been moved and seconded.

Devin, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Vice-chair Sawant.

Yes.

Chair Morales.

Yes.

Five in favor.

Thank you, the motion carries and the committee recommendation that the council pass this bill will be sent to the August 9th city council meeting as well.

Okay, colleagues, that is it.

We had a very short agenda today.

I do want to thank again, Kia Guarino from Pro-Choice Washington for being here with us, Yvette Magana from Planned Parenthood Alliance.

I also want to thank our council central staff and Gorman, Ketel Freeman and Jasmine Mahara I'm sure I'm not saying that right.

My apologies, Jasmine.

And also Council Member Herbold and her staff, my team for all the work that they've done here and the work that they've done with our advocates to make sure.

We also ran these bills through ACLU.

So we wanted to make sure that we are on the right track here and that we're doing everything we can to protect folks and just want to say thank you to everyone.

We know Seattle is ground zero for some of this.

So we have to stand firm and be a place where we can strengthen existing protections while we create more protections for people who are seeking this care.

And I appreciate everybody's work to do that.

So with that, colleagues, if there's no other business before the committee, this concludes the July 22nd, 2022 meeting.

Our next scheduled meeting is August 12th.

It is 10.03 AM and we are adjourned.