We had a great turnout of people supporting SB 5234, the Shared Parenting bill in Olympia on Friday. I counted 14 people who testified for the bill, and 10 against (there were also comments about SB 5470, most of the DV people were for the bill, and we were mostly against).
We definitely outnumbered them and had way better arguments for positive family law reform. The anti-'s consisted mostly of DV victims telling their horror stories (which wouldn't be affected by the bill) and taxpayer-funded legal-aid types who also relied on extremes to oppose any changes towards fairness for both parents.
One legal aid atty from Tacoma said that a presumption of shared parenting "flies in the face of RCW 26.50" (the DV protection order statute) as though every case involves DV! He also claimed that he saw no disparity in how fathers and mothers are treated in the system.
At least the state DV coalition director acknowledged the existence of false allegations of DV, which was a major milestone. (Sen. Hargrove thanked her for recognizing false claims). But she still started out her testimony by citing the DV Fatality Review, again the extreme cases.
As Elisa Cooper pointed out in her fantastic presentation, less than 6 per cent of divorce cases involve DV. It is so frustrating that, again, the 6 per cent tail is wagging the 94 per cent dog. (Apparently Spokane County is a hotbed of DV, since one of the DV types claimed in her testimony that 30 per cent of women in Spokane County are DV victims).
We met a few new friends who came to the hearing to support shared parenting and a couple have joined our group.
As for the next step, we still need to do much to get this bill passed. We will know more this coming week, but at minimum, you should call your legislators and tell them to support SB 5234. Call the toll-free hotline at 1-800-562-6000, and give your name and address. They will automatically find your Sen. and Reps and get them the message. We will be doing more to promote this bill and a companion that is being intro'd in the House. Stay tuned, and thanks to all the Tabbies who have worked on this bill!
Lisa