The committee held a public hearing on House Bill 1189, a bill that would require schools to follow a uniform process when conducting criminal-history checks for volunteers who would have regularly scheduled unsupervised access to minors or individuals with developmental disabilities.

The lede: Representative Tara Simmons, sponsor of HB 1189, described personal experience with a school volunteer ban after a prior felony and said the bill creates a path for parents with vacated convictions, pardons, or certificates of restoration to regain volunteer access. "I cannot volunteer in his school because my school automatically gives an outright ban for life if you have a class B felony," Representative Simmons said, describing how district policies vary across the state.

Megan Worgecki, counsel to the committee, briefed the panel on the bill's mechanics: schools would have to inform volunteer applicants who are parents, grandparents or legal guardians about the option to submit documents demonstrating innocence or rehabilitation; if a volunteer provides such documents and signs an affirmation that no new convictions followed, schools could not deny the application for the underlying conviction. If applicants do not provide the documents, schools must evaluate length of time since the most recent conviction and whether any offense involved a minor; schools must notify applicants of denials and provide an appeals path to OSPI within five days.

The nut graf: bill supporters, including testimony from formerly incarcerated parent-advocates, said the measure restores family engagement and creates consistent standards; some witnesses argued for broader reform of post-conviction barriers.

Jovan Jackson, a Nevada state lawmaker who is formerly incarcerated, described the emotional harm of policies that bar parents from school events and urged lawmakers to allow restoration of parental access. "It's a bitter reminder that as a lawmaker I still seem not good enough by society . . . not good enough to be a father in my own child's school," Jackson testified.

Former Representative Lori Dolan, the bill's prior sponsor, recounted classroom experience and urged passage so parents could once again be present for classroom activities.

Ending: the committee left the bill open for further consideration and received a large number of proponent sign-ins; staff said OSPI supports the bill language as written and the committee will keep the public hearing record open.