Manion-Backed Hate Crime Bill Sails Through House and Senate, Now Awaits Governor Inslee’s Signature
Today, King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion commended the Washington State Legislature on passing ESB 5623, which makes legislative fixes that currently prevent prosecutors from seeking accountability for some hate crimes. The bill, which passed today in the House 89–9 after passing the Senate earlier this year, now heads to Governor’s Inslee’s desk for signature.
“Hate crimes have a devastating affect not only on victims and survivors, but on the communities they are a part of,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion. “By expanding the universe of what is considered a hate crime in Washington State and taking the common sense step of recategorizing hate crimes as crimes against a person, this bill takes an important step forward in providing our communities with the justice they deserve in the wake of these traumatic crimes. I want to extend a special thanks to our Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Hate Crimes, Yessenia Manzo, and Senator Manka Dhingra for their leadership on this bill.”
“I am grateful to our legislators in the House and the Senate for supporting this legislation, which finally recognizes hate crimes as a crime against a person,” said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Hate Crimes, Yessenia Manzo. “I am hopeful that with the support of the Governor’s Office, this important bill will soon become law.”
If enacted, ESB 5623 would reclassify hate crimes as a crime against a person — empowering courts to impose community/therapeutic-treatment (which is a common request of victims/survivors) in addition to jail time. Further, the bill would expand the universe of possible hate crimes to include assaults that do not result in physical injury.
In late 2022, King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Yessenia Manzo testified before the Senate Law and Justice Committee on SB 5623, sharing a firsthand account of why this bill is so important: “To give an example, there was a case where a Mexican woman was in line at a business and was speaking in Spanish on the phone,” said Manzo. “The defendant in this case became upset because the woman was speaking in Spanish and without provocation approached her, started to yell racial slurs at her, and told her to go back to her country. He escalated to the point where he spit in her face and some of the spit landed in her eye. This criminal conduct should absolutely be considered a hate crime, but it is not in the current law.”
ESB 5623 is among a suite of bills Manion has endorsed this year, including policies aimed at providing greater accountability on sexual assault, mental health treatment, and catalytic converter theft.
