HB 1363 faced a mixed vote and continues to face a tough road ahead. AWC urges cities to continue to reach out to your legislators and ask them to support this bill.

The current version of the bill includes a sunset provision for July 1, 2025. While this means the debate will resume in Olympia in two years, the bill still does provide immediate action and allows for two years to collect data demonstrating that this fix works.

The bill would allow vehicular pursuits when there is reasonable suspicion that a person in the vehicle has committed or is committing one of the following crimes:

• A violent offense
• A sex offense
• A vehicular assault
• Assault involving domestic violence
• An escape
• A DUI

HB 1363 would limit vehicular pursuits to situations when the person being pursued poses a serious risk of harm to others and is necessary for the purpose of identifying or apprehending the person being pursued. Additionally, the amended bill requires jurisdictions with 10 or more commissioned officers to notify and coordinate with a supervising officer. Jurisdictions with less than 10 commissioned officers would be required to notify the on-call supervisor.

HB 1586 also passed out of the House Appropriations Committee last week. The bill would require the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) to convene a work group to develop legislative policy recommendations related to vehicular pursuits. The bill also creates a vehicular pursuit technology grant program for local law enforcement agencies. No action was taken on SB 5533, which would have created a model policy as well as a grant program.

Dates to remember

HB 1363 needs to pass the full House before the March 8 house of origin cut-off deadline.