With public safety a top concern in 2024, Legislature approves a handful of bills

The Legislature considered a wide variety of public safety and criminal justice‒related bills in 2024 but ended up acting on only a small number of them. Despite the small number, some of the adopted bills were priorities for AWC.

Public safety

In terms of new crimes, the Legislature was overall quite hesitant to create new crimes or expand existing criminal statutes—with two notable exceptions. The first is HB 1493 pertaining to impaired driving. The bill modifies the statutes related to impaired driving in several ways, but of most importance to cities, the bill (1) authorizes a person to participate in a second deferred prosecution in certain circumstances; and (2) extends the so-called felony “lookback” period for DUI cases from 10 years to 15 years. The second bill to highlight is HB 2153, which aims to address the rise in vehicle catalytic converter theft. The bill creates more parameters around sales of catalytic converters and establishes new felony and gross misdemeanor crimes for those that possess or sell stolen catalytic converters.

One public safety–related bill that received considerable public attention this year was SB 6105,related to adult entertainment establishments, including added requirements for entertainer safety and training. As introduced, the bill would have preempted cities’ ability to adopt local ordinances regulating aspects of adult entertainment establishments. While we were successful in narrowing the preemption, as it passed the Legislature, cities with a population of 650,000+ may not adopt or enforce ordinances restricting an entertainer from collecting payment or restricting an entertainer’s proximity to others, provided there is no contact between the entertainer and the patron. Importantly, the bill also requires the Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) to repeal WAC 314-11-050, which will functionally allow liquor to be served in adult entertainment establishments; further, the LCB cannot adopt or enforce rules restricting certain sexually oriented or “lewd conduct” in establishments with a liquor license.

Law enforcement recruitment and retention

A top priority for AWC this year was law enforcement recruitment and retention. Unfortunately, the Legislature did not act on SB 6076/HB 2211, which would have given city councils the ability to legislatively impose the public safety sales tax to generate much-needed revenue for law enforcement and public safety. However, on a positive note, the Legislature did eliminate the 25% local cost-share requirement for the Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) classes, which will provide about $2.5 million in savings to cities in FY 2025.

The Legislature also adopted three bills that will have a positive effect on law enforcement recruitment and retention, though these bills will certainly not solve the issue entirely:

• HB 2311 provides additional support programs for first responder wellness.
• SB 5424 authorizes law enforcement to work part-time and remain part of the LEOFF pension system.
• SB 6157 allows Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to work as law enforcement officers.

Initiative 2113 – Vehicular pursuits

The Legislature passed Initiative 2113 related to vehicular pursuits. This modifies state law to allow law enforcement to pursue an individual on reasonable suspicion of a violation of law. Local jurisdictions may still adopt more stringent local pursuit policies.

Criminal justice

The Legislature enacted two bills of note for cities related to criminal justice. The first, SB 5780, creates programs to encourage more public defenders and prosecutors in rural and currently underserved areas. The Criminal Justice Training Commission/Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys will administer the program for prosecutors, and the Office of Public Defense will administer the program for public defenders. While neither of these programs will solve the significant challenges we face in the state (and nationally) related to vacancies in public defense and prosecutor positions, this was a significant step for the Legislature to take any action to address this issue.

Lastly, SB 5937 makes several changes related to crime victims, including these of importance to cities:

• Requires that victims of violent offenses, domestic violence, and sex offenses be informed by police or the prosecuting attorney when the defendant has been found not competent to stand trial and referred for competency restoration.
• Establishes that these same crime victims have the right to be informed when charges have been filed and to attend court proceedings remotely, dependent on local jurisdiction resources.