OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt reacted today to a federal judge’s ruling suspending Kentucky’s law forbidding protests within 300 feet of military funerals and memorial services, saying he is still 100 percent committed to passing a similar, yet more narrowly defined, law in Washington.

A Republican-sponsored military funeral bill met an untimely death in the 2006 legislative session when Senate Democrats, despite a promise to vote on the bill the last evening of the legislative session, closed the session without doing so.

“I am absolutely committed to protecting members of our military and their families from this type of horrendous, offensive behavior,” said Hewitt, R-Walla Walla. “The good news is that it appears the bill we almost got to vote on is written in such a way that it will pass constitutional muster. Our service men and women were deeply disappointed when our bill did not pass last year. We owe it to them to pass it as soon as the Legislature convenes in January.”

More than half the states have enacted laws restricting protests at military funerals, and laws in Ohio and Missouri are being challenged in federal court. In addition, President George W. Bush signed a law in May that requires protestors to stay 500 feet away from military funerals. However, the federal bill applies only to funerals at national cemeteries, leaving the door open for protests at military funerals held at other locations.

Washington’s bill, SHB 3293, sponsored by Rep. Dan Roach, R-Bonney Lake, is more narrowly crafted than Kentucky’s bill. Among the differences, Washington’s version applies to those who intentionally engage in fighting or tumultuous conduct or make unreasonable noise within 500 feet of a military funeral, and know that the activity adversely affects the funeral. By contrast, Kentucky’s law applied to any communications that may – or may not – interfere with the funeral proceedings. As a result, the court found the law burdened substantially more speech than necessary to protect funeral attendees from unwanted and obtrusive communications. The ACLU, which filed the lawsuit in Kentucky, testified it was neutral on Washington’s bill.

Additional contact: Rebecca Japhet at (360) 786-7516 or Japhet.Rebecca@leg.wa.gov