seattlepi.com – Chris McGann P-I Capitol Correspondent
OLYMPIA — The Legislature is having trouble coming to terms with its feelings about taxpayer-financed sex-change operations.
Earlier this year lawmakers added a line to the budget to end the policy when reports based on a 2004 Medicaid audit revealed the state had paid for a sex-change operation and other questionable procedures such as penile implants.
The amendment, which read “no funds … shall be expended upon gender reassignment surgery or treatment,” passed with broad bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and supporters thought the matter had been resolved.
But as the Legislature adjourned last week, leading Democrats reversed themselves and axed the line when they met in a conference committee, which was closed to the public, to reconcile the details of their budget proposals.
House Appropriations Chairwoman Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, said the committee struck the amendment because it may have prohibited surgery for infants born with both male and female reproductive organs.