
State Senator Dhingra Pushes Bill With Victim-Centered Response To Sexual Assault
Photo: senatedemocrats.wa.gov
India-West Staff Reporter
OLYMPIA, WA — On January 15, State Senator Manka Dhingra, alongside students from Lake Washington High School, introduced a bill aimed at addressing drink spiking in bars and nightclubs. The proposed legislation requires establishments that sells alcohol to provide drink test kits to detect date rape drugs and display a prominent warning about the risks of drink spiking..”
This bill, inspired by similar legislation passed in California in 2023, seeks to prevent the use of drink spiking and sexual assault. A 2016 study by the American Psychological Association found that over 7% of students reported being drugged. The CDC estimated that one in four women and one in twenty-six men had experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetime.
“We knew drink spiking could facilitate sexual assault. Prevention was key,” Dhingra said. “These kits could help make nightlife safer by empowering individuals to detect potential threats before they escalated into a crime.”
The bill proposes that the test kits be made available at a reasonable cost, with establishments not being held liable for inaccurate results.
Dhingra had also sponsored SB 5937, an omnibus bill designed to provide a victim-centered, trauma-informed response to sexual assault in the state’s legal system. The bill sought to streamline access to crime victim benefits, cover some of the costs of forensic examinations, expand protections for victims, and ensure that children aged 13 and up could consent to forensic sexual exams.
A survivor of sexual assault praised the bill, noting that it comprehensively addressed victims’ needs, from improving access to compensation funds to removing the statute of limitations for first responder rapes and recognizing the use of rape drugs as force.