Youth plenary approves bills on juvenile penalties, window tinting, body cameras, residency process, DUI limit and foster-care freedoms

The eighth-grade YMCA Youth & Government plenary voted in favor of several measures after extended debate, approving a bill to increase penalties for certain sexual misconduct by minors and passing memorials and bills on vehicle tinting, police body cameras, an immigration residency process, a lower driving under-the-influence threshold and more freedom for youth in foster care.

The chamber approved Bill A812, which its proponent, Paige Annabelle Bequette (speaking through a reporter), framed around a personal account of a peer threat and argued would reclassify some juvenile sexual misconduct from misdemeanor to class C felony and lower the protected-victim age threshold in the text of the bill. Bequette told the assembly she feared the existing penalties left victims without “the justice I deserved,” and cited several prevalence figures in support of tougher penalties. Members asked clarifying questions about the age cutoffs and the likely jail ranges; one member noted a class C felony can include jail time and fines. A motion to close debate passed and the chair declared A812 approved by majority vote.

Delegates then spent a lengthy period on a memorial titled B8 that asks authorities to relax state restrictions on window tint. Proponent Luis Enrique Rios Herrera (Lockbourne delegation) said the proposal was about privacy and skin protection and argued for front/rear window limits (he cited 15% for certain windows) and no limit on some side windows. Opponents warned of nighttime-visibility hazards and said unrestricted side or rear tinting could hinder traffic-safety enforcement and make certain crimes harder to detect. Rios Herrera replied the measure was optional and framed it as parity with other states and a personal-privacy issue; after floor motions and a division request the presiding officer declared the memorial passed.

Caitlin Mullen, who authored Bill E18, urged delegates to back mandatory police body cameras, citing national fatal-force statistics and a recent local killing used as an example in her opening remarks. Mullen said body cameras help establish what occurred and can protect communities and officers alike. Questioners pressed whether departments or the bill would set rules on retention and penalties for turning cameras off; Mullen said that operational detail would be left to local departments and that confidentiality concerns would be handled like other security footage. The chamber voted to pass E18.

On immigration, delegates approved Bill F17, a proposal to create a six-year pathway to U.S. residency for immigrants who pay labor taxes and avoid certain legal trouble. Proponent Alondra Perez described immigration risks during her opening remarks and urged the chamber to vote for a safer, regularized process; questioners asked how eligibility and enforcement would work, and supporters emphasized humanitarian reasons for passage. The bill passed by constitutional majority.

The assembly also approved Bill C16, which reduces the legal blood-alcohol concentration limit to drive from 0.08 to 0.05 (the clerk read a reference to RCW 46.610.502 during the reading). Proponents argued the lower limit would save lives; opponents asked for technical context about how much alcohol reaches 0.05 in practice. Discussion time was closed and the bill was declared passed.

Finally, Bill D19, titled “Foster care freedom,” passed after its proponent described restrictions she experienced while in foster care and explained the bill’s case-by-case approach that would allow supervised freedoms such as participating in sports or social activities when appropriate. Supporters called the measure a step toward normalizing foster children’s lives; the sponsor said supervision would be required in some cases.

Several procedural motions were approved during the session (including a change to opening and closing debate times), and the director of elections, Emma Peters, announced leadership-election results for major posts (postmaster general, chief lobbyist executive, editor in chief, attorney general, secretary of state, speaker, president pro tem and youth governor). Executive director Nolan Martin closed with awards and brief remarks before the chair called the session adjourned.

Votes and formal outcomes recorded in the proceedings were declared by the presiding officer as reaching majority or constitutional-majority thresholds; the record does not include full roll-call tallies for each recorded vote. Where details such as statutory citations or precise vote counts were stated on the floor, the transcript text is reported as read by the clerk (for example, the reading of RCW 46.610.502 in connection with Bill C16). The chamber’s next procedural steps were not specified in the transcript.

The session combined personal testimony and policy argument: proponents framed measures by direct experience (a survivor account in A812, a foster-care sponsor’s history in D19), while several items left operational specifics (penalties, retention and enforcement) to subsequent authorities or local agencies.

What’s next: each bill passed as recorded by the presiding officer; the transcript does not include implementation schedules, department assignments or exact vote tallies. Further steps (implementation, any required local or external approvals) were not specified during the plenary.