After emotional testimony from Evergreen victims and sheriff, committee advances bill to speed platform reporting and warrant responses

Senator Cutter introduced House Bill 12‑55 as a narrowly drafted response to the Evergreen High School shooting. The bill would require social‑media platforms to report credibly flagged, public, imminent threats to the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction within 24 hours and shorten the statutory timeline for responding to judicial search warrants involving platform data (the bill sets a 24‑hour compliance standard for specified requests, with limited exceptions).

Jefferson County Sheriff Reggie Marinelli and multiple detectives described the July 5 flagging of the Evergreen shooter’s account and the subsequent multi‑warrant, multi‑agency investigation that produced identifying information only after the September 10 attack. Law‑enforcement witnesses described lengthy serial warrant workflows (IP -> URL -> subscriber) and said current production timelines (up to 35 days per warrant) can foreclose meaningful intervention.

Survivors and family members gave emotional testimony about the months of trauma since the attack and urged the committee to act. Supporters framed the measure as a narrowly tailored duty to report for platforms after they have already flagged a specific imminent threat; opponents cautioned about compelled reporting, retention and use of data, and potential impacts on privacy and civil liberties. The committee adopted three technical amendments clarifying that legally protected health‑care activities are excluded from the adverse‑action reporting requirement and tightened the definition of adverse action; after debate the committee voted 6–1 to advance the bill to the Committee of the Whole.

Sponsors and many witnesses described the bill as an incremental, narrowly targeted step to close a timing gap between platform detection and law‑enforcement jurisdictional awareness; opponents urged further stakeholder work on safeguards and oversight.