State-level Bills Aim to Protect Clergy Reporting Abuse 

Utah passed a bill providing protection for clergy who report abuse, but a similar bill failed in Washington

The Utah state legislature passed a bill last week allowing legal protections for pastors who report abuse or neglect they learn about during a religious confession. The bill now heads to Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk for his signature.

The bill, authored by Rep. Anthony Loubert (R-Kearns), states, “When a member of the clergy reasonably believes that a child is the subject of ongoing abuse or neglect, the member of the clergy may report the information even if the perpetrator made a confession to the member of the clergy regarding the abuse or neglect.”

Currently, clergy members in Utah are exempt from mandatory reporting of abuse if information regarding potential child abuse or neglect was shared by the perpetrator during a confession and the member of the clergy is bound to maintain confidentiality.

Previous bills in Utah have attempted to make clergy mandatory reporters. This version does not do that, but does extend the same liability protection given to mandatory reporters to clergy members who choose to report allegations they learn about in a confession.

“It’s not requiring or mandating anybody to report,” Loubet told the Deseret News. “But it’s allowing members of the clergy to be able to report if they have reason to believe that child abuse or neglect is currently ongoing, even if the person confessed to them. And if they do, they receive the liability protections that any mandatory reporter would get.”

Washington State

For the second year in a row, a bill in Washington state to make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse failed after it passed the state’s Senate but then died in a House committee at the end of February.

As with other proposals in the past, the sticking point involved whether the law should contain an exception to the reporting requirement for allegations a clergy member learns about during confession.

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The bill read, “The reporting requirement … applies to members of the clergy, except with regard to information that a member of the clergy obtains in the member’s professional character as a religious or spiritual advisor when the information is obtained solely in the context of a penitential communication.”

The original bill did not contain the exception, but when the Washington State Catholic Conference opposed the bill without the exception, the bill’s author compromised by having an exemption for clergy when they are in a confession situation.

The House Committee on Human Services, Youth and Early Learning committee chair claimed the bill would have advanced if it didn’t include the exemption.

“It’s by no means an indication that we don’t take child abuse seriously. If anything, it’s the opposite,” committee chair Rep. Tana Senn said in an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting. “We’re taking a strong stand that we don’t want to systemically allow systemic abuse.”

Main photo: Photo by Cottonbro Studio / Pexels / Creative Commons

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