A bill that would extend free press rights to all Washington state high school and college-level publications passed out of the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday and will now continue to the House Rules Committee.

The vote was split along partisan lines, with Democrats in support and Republicans in opposition.

Republicans were in support of free press guarantees for college students, but not for high school students.

The House Judiciary Committee met for the first reading of House Bill 1307 last Friday. The bill was proposed by Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines.

Initially brought to Upthegrove's attention by former Green River Community College (GRCC) student Brian Schraum, the bill is a response to Everett High School administrators' censoring of a student publication and the reluctance of administrators at Schraum's community college to declare its student publication The Current a public forum.

As a reaction to the First-Amendment-stripping 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Hosty v. Carter case, Schraum, then editor-in-chief of The Current, approached GRCC administrators about granting free-press protections to the publication.

In Hosty v. Carter, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's decision, affirming the ability of college administrators to censor student publications in the 7th Circuit's jurisdiction.

Even though the court's decision is not binding outside of the 7th Circuit, Schraum wanted administrators at his college to develop a policy protecting student's free press rights.

After consulting their lawyers, GRCC declined Schraum's request.

Speaking on behalf of his bill, Upthegrove cited a recent Knight Foundation survey that found 49 percent of high school students agree it is ok for the government to censor the news media.

"I worry about a generation growing up without an understanding of their constitutional rights," Upthegrove said. "One of the best ways to develop an appreciation of those constitutional rights is to model and apply those freedoms in the school environment."

The bill's proponents insist that by allowing students press freedoms, accountability and responsibility will follow.

"Prior review only teaches our students that someone else will always be responsible for them," said Logan Aimone, a journalism adviser at Wenatchee High School. "We need to teach responsibility for one's actions. This bill teaches students to be more careful, more responsible and extra diligent when preparing work for publication."

Critics painted a less rosy picture.

"No private media would relinquish this control over their publication," said Jerry Bender, speaking on behalf of the Association of Washington School Principals. "This [bill] seems to be a solution searching for a problem."

Bender suggested offering seminar training to principals about students' First Amendment rights as an alternative to the bill.

Upthegrove was dismissive of Bender's argument.

"That argument is flawed," he said. "The difference between private media and student publications is that school officials are government officials. That constitutes government censorship."

Upthegrove said administrator concerns are addressed by the bill, making note of provisions allowing school officials to preview high school publications and edit content if it is obscene, libelous or could cause material disruption to school operation.

In what was perhaps the bill's strongest criticism, Rep. Jay Rodne, R-Snoqualmie, questioned Upthegrove about students' liability.

"Where's the protection for parents?" he said. "A student who is liable for defamation or found civilly liable for some cause of action is going to implicate and expose parental liability."

Upthegrove said state law caps parental civil liability at $5,000.

While the Student Free Press bill enjoys bi partisan support in the House and from Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, a Republican, its success is not guaranteed in the Senate.

Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, questioned the wisdom of extending free press rights to high school students.

"They need to differentiate between high school and college; I think there is a line that needs to be drawn there," said Delvin.

As a teenager, Delvin said he wrote a "scathing" article about the Richland School Board in his school's student newspaper. Delvin said the school reprimanded him after he snuck the article into an issue behind the adviser's back.

Delvin said administrator control of student publications is important.

"I can see their argument, but I still go back to where you release a young person to their own devices," he said.

Arkansas, California, Kansas, Iowa, Massachusetts and Colorado already have laws in place protecting high school publications.

If enacted, Washington would become the second state to extend free press rights to both high school and college level publications. California is the only state with a law protecting college level publications.

Though the bill would grant all Washington state college publications free press rights, student journalists at the UW already enjoy full freedom of the press.

"The [UW] Daily is a student publication, by the students, for the students," said Norm Arkans, executive director of media relations and communications at the UW. "If you, as an institution of higher education teach freedom of the press, in order to maintain credibility, you better practice it. It's that simple."

Reach reporter Brian Slodysko at news@thedaily.washington.edu.