Problematic and expensive police liability bill advances

A bill that will significantly increase liability risk for cities managed to pass out of the House Appropriation Committee ahead of last Friday’s fiscal committee cutoff deadline. AWC continues to need your help to convince legislators to not pass this damaging bill out of the House.

Readers will recall that HB 1025 eliminates qualified immunity for state and local law enforcement, greatly increasing cities’ exposure to claims against officers and city police departments. The current version of the bill creates a new civil cause of action against police and police departments for officer conduct that is found to violate the state constitution, state immigration enforcement statutes, and state use of force statues. Police departments would also be on the hook for negligent hiring or retention of problem officers unless they could show they had a disciplinary action against the officer reversed by an arbitrator or court.

The bill also provides several defenses to an action that police can use, including that the officer’s conduct followed established department policy. It also provides departments with the defense that their practices were in compliance with state Criminal Justice Training Commission practices and procedures, and that a policy was in compliance with certain Attorney General’s Office model policies. There is some concern from cities that this could create a new legal wrinkle when a city has a policy that is more restrictive than the model policy, opening the city up to additional liability just because the city’s policy is different than the AGO model policy.

Another area of concern is that claims made under HB 1025 would not be subject to the “felony bar” defense, where police generally have a complete defense from torts claims by people who were injured by law enforcement activities while they were committing a felony.

The House Appropriations Committee passed the bill out on a 19-12 vote. It is now in the House Rules Committee to be considered for addition to the calendar for a House floor vote ahead of next week’s House of Origin Floor cutoff deadline on March 8.

AWC remains opposed to HB 1025 and will continue to make sure legislators are aware of the damaging liability increases this bill could bring down on cities across the state. Cities still have opportunities to stop this bill if they continue to reach out to the legislature about their concerns. Please continue to reach out to your House members to let them know about your city’s opposition to HB 1025.

You can find your legislator’s contact information on AWC’s legislative directory. When you contact your House members, remember to mention:

• HB 1025 will encourage lawsuits against cities, regardless of merit, because of the high likelihood of plaintiffs getting an out-of-court settlement.
• HB 1025 will drive up settlement expenses, as many cities will choose to settle claims, regardless of merit, rather than take on expensive litigation or risk paying exorbitant attorney fees.
• HB 1025 will drive up city liability insurance costs (or insurers could refuse to cover cities altogether), as insurers weigh the new risk to police departments. Washington already has one of the most plaintiff-friendly government liability systems and many cities are already have experiencing increasing costs for insurance.