Washington state Rep. Mia Gregerson is pushing legislation to give homeless people in the state special civil rights, reported 770 KTTH.

Gregerson, a Democrat, drafted a bill that would make homeless people a protected class and shield them from "discrimination based on housing status."

"[M]any communities within Washington are enacting and enforcing laws that disproportionately impact homelessness or make living in public a crime," the document reads. "These laws are potentially unconstitutional, make it harder for people to exit homelessness, do not solve the underlying problem of homelessness, and waste precious public funds."

The move follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public places, overturning a ruling from a California-based appeals court that found such laws amount to cruel and unusual punishment when shelter space is lacking.

The case is the high court's most significant ruling on the issue in decades and comes as a rising number of people in the U.S. are without a permanent place to live.

Western cities had argued that the ruling made it harder to manage outdoor encampments in public spaces, but homeless advocates said punishing people who need a place to sleep would criminalize homelessness.

Gregerson told Fox News on Wednesday that the reported draft was a "starting point" based on legislation that failed to pass in 2019.

"To clarify, the language in the Jason Rantz article is not a bill but a starting point from earlier this year," the lawmaker said. "What I will propose will be significantly different from the 2019 bill because we are working on a different set of issues.

"There has always been a plan to share this broadly including all of the cities. Drafts such as this one are a continuation of meaningful work we have done in the past."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. 

• 1 Dead as Pacific Northwest Hit With 'Bomb Cyclone'
• LA Mayor Bass Says Common Ground on Homeless Possible