CLAIM: Washington state passed a bill that will incentivize people to report hate speech and bias on a 24/7 hotline with a cash reward.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The final version of the bill, SB 5427, signed by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, on Tuesday, does not offer any such compensation. In its original version, the bill outlined a fund that would have allowed for victims of hate crimes or bias incidents to receive up to $2,000. All versions of the bill stipulate the establishment of a reporting hotline that will be staffed during business hours, not 24/7.
THE FACTS: Soon after the bill was signed into law, social media users falsely claimed that it will allow people to tattletale on members of their community for financial gain.
“Not satire: Washington state has passed a law offering cash as an incentive to report hate speech and bias via a 24/7 hotline,” reads one X post that had received approximately 9,900 likes and shares as of Friday.
Many posts also included a screenshot of a legislative memo criticizing the bill published on Jan, 18, 2024, by Liv Finne, the director of the Center for Education at the Washington Policy Center, a conservative think tank. The memo states that “SB 5427 would offer people a reward of up to $2,000 to report their neighbors, co-workers, family members and other people in the community for a ‘hate crime’ or ‘bias incident.’”
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But the final version of the bill does not offer any compensation of this kind.
SB 5427 directs the state attorney general’s office to create a hotline where people can report hate crimes and bias incidents, the latter being defined as a non-criminal “hostile expression of animus” toward someone based on characteristics such as race, religion or sexual orientation. Reports will only be shared with law enforcement if the victim consents.
The original version of the bill included a provision for a compensation program that would have provided up to $2,000 per person for individuals “targeted or affected by a specific hate crime or bias incident” so long as funds were available. It stated that those seeking compensation would file a claim form that would then be evaluated by the attorney’s general office before being either approved or denied.
This provision does not appear in the version of SB 5427 signed by Inslee this week, set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
The bill was first introduced to the state Senate on Jan. 17, 2023, but failed to advance from committee the next month. An amended version that omitted the compensation program was first read on Feb. 5, 2024, after Finne’s memo was published.
No version of SB 5427 states that the reporting hotline will be run 24/7. Since it was introduced in 2023, it has stipulated that the hotline will be staffed during business hours.
Mike Faulk, a spokesperson for Inslee, confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that “no cash incentives or victim compensation are part of this law as signed” and that the hotline will be staffed during business hours only, not around the clock.___This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
