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Excerpts from the executive session on House Bill 2526 concerning the crime of "patronizing a prostitute" during the February 3, 2026 meeting of the Washington State House Committee on Community Safety. Presented for public educational purposes and not to advocate for a particular position on this legislation.
Lyrics by Steve Warshaw, a dad in Renton, Washington. Music created using AI tools. EXPLANATION FROM STEVE: I was hit with what I consider to be a difficult domestic violence protection order, which has severely limited my ability to be a father to my sons. For more than a year, I was too hurt and angry to express how I felt. But people kept asking me "How do you feel?" Eventually, I made this song to express my feelings. The line "We took love and turned it into paperwork, reduced blood to scheduled time" is my way of expressing how little value the court seems to put on the actual relationship between father and child.  Over the past 14 months I have met other men who've gone through similar things. They're too hurt and confused to understand why their children have been ripped away. I hope this song helps someone feel less alone. I also hope it helps people see change is needed. LYRICS Their rooms still look untouched like they’re coming home tonight Two shadows down the hallway still hanging in the light I still stop outside their bedroom doors most nights when I can’t sleep Funny the things a man holds onto when he’s trying not to break I know the sound of helpless now. It ain’t loud, it ain’t mean It’s coffee getting colder In a house too quiet to breathe It’s seeing your boys getting older in pictures on a phone It’s praying they still hear your voice when you’re sitting here alone If love was enough to save us I’d still have my family now There’d be muddy boots by the back door and noise all through this house Instead I talk to photographs like somehow they can hear Trying to hold onto my boys while they disappear with the years The world keeps right on turning like nothing ever changed Traffic lights and grocery stores people laughing in the rain Meanwhile I’m counting empty birthdays and learning what loss means Turns out some kinds of heartbreak don’t bleed where they can be seen We took love and turned it into paperwork, reduced blood to scheduled time Like childhood waits forever for grown folks to decide Somewhere underneath the anger and all the damage done There was a father trying to hold onto the only thing he’s ever loved How’s a man supposed to guide his sons through walls he cannot cross How do you keep on being a father after everything gets lost There are wounds that never heal clean no matter how hard you try Just empty rooms, long nights, and learning how to drown standing upright I pray they never doubt I love them, not for one damn minute Even when distance changed the story and silence filled in the missing Because every road I’ve ever taken, every war I’ve survived Wouldn’t mean a thing without them, without the sound of them alive Their rooms still look untouched
Ted Bradford spent nearly 10 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He is Washington state's first person to be exonerated using DNA evidence. SB 5934 (2026) reducing litigation costs by removing barriers to postconviction DNA testing: https://app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?BillNumber=5934&Year=2025&Initiative=false SB 5520 (2026) concerning the wrongly convicted persons act: https://app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?BillNumber=5520&Year=2025&Initiative=false
Jeff Michaelis and his wife MaryAnn testified in January in support of a bill intended to require porn websites to verify that individuals accessing their site are age 18 or older. House Bill 2112 was prime sponsored by Representative Mari Leavitt (D-University Place) and co-sponsored by 12 Democrats and 7 Republicans. Supporters and opponents of the proposal gave compelling testimonies at the public hearing in the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Business. HB 2112 ultimately did not pass out of the committee. Washington is one of about 25 states that have not adopted age verification laws for accessing adult content online. Jeff and Maryann Michaelis are counselors with Hart Recovery Institute based in Richland, Washington. They specialize in helping people with unwanted sexual behaviors and addiction.
New Horizon Communities: https://www.nhcommunities.org/ When Quixote Village opened in Olympia in 2013, it was the first tiny house village in Washington to provide permanent supportive housing to those overcoming homelessness. Since then, New Horizon Communities has opened two more villages in Orting and Shelton, creating housing capacity for a total of 95 people among the three villages, two-thirds of whom are military veterans. To access the housing and accompanying services requires having a disability and being chronically homeless, defined as being homeless for 12 consecutive months or for 12 months total over the previous three years. Residents of the tiny home villages pay 30% of whatever income they earn as rent. They typically stay one to two years before ‘graduating’ to other housing. Recently tiny house villages have become a higher-profile solution for housing the chronically unsheltered (see: "Seattle Mayor shares progress and strategy on adding 1,000 shelter units in 2026"). Watch Blair’s conversation with the executive director of New Horizon Communities, Colleen Carmichael. View this post on WIBM's Substack: https://wibm.substack.com/p/tiny-houses-for-the-homeless-colleen-carmichael-new-horizon-communities
This public hearing on SB 5356 was held on March 17, 2025 in the Washington State House Committee on Community Safety. Testifiers: Baron Li, Blair Daly, and Kristen Lewis. Link to SB 5356 "Concerning training provided by the criminal justice training commission": https://app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?BillNumber=5356&Year=2025&Initiative=false
This public hearing on SB 5355 was held on March 18, 2025 in the Washington State House Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce. Testifiers: Blair Daly and Kristen Lewis. Link to SB 5355 "Improving safety at institutions of higher education while supporting student survivors of sexual assault": https://app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?BillNumber=5355&Year=2025&Initiative=false
Senate Bill 5895 (2026) "Providing an alternative condition for extraordinary medical placement for incarcerated individuals" did not pass the legislature. Bill landing page: https://app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?BillNumber=5895&Year=2025&Initiative=false
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