Contact your legislators about the need to support vehicular pursuits legislation

Even though the Senate kept the vehicular pursuits bill alive in a surprise move, the House has yet to take action on SB 5352. Time is running short on vehicular pursuits legislation and AWC urges cities to reach out to your legislators.

AWC needs cities to reach out to your House members to urge them to support SB 5352 and ask their leadership to ensure the bill will be voted on. Your voices could make a substantial difference in whether this bill will move forward. While we are encouraged by the Senate’s last-minute actions described below, the bill still has a considerable way to go if it will be enacted into law this session.

For most of the session, HB 1363 had been the vehicle for revising the police pursuits statute to include a “reasonable suspicion” standard, striking a more appropriate balance between providing law enforcement with the tools needed to pursue dangerous suspects while focusing on appropriate and necessary safety standards. But the bill got bogged down and looked like it wouldn't have the votes to pass. Then, with just hours to go before the deadline, the Senate – in a rarely used procedural move – pulled their previously dead companion of the vehicular pursuits bill, SB 5352, straight to the floor for a vote. The amended bill adds vehicular assault and certain domestic violence offenses to the list of crimes for which police are authorized to pursue and passed in a close 26-23 vote (with mixed Democratic and Republican votes both for and against).

In the current version of the bill, a law enforcement officer would be authorized to engage in a vehicular pursuit if all the following conditions are met:

• The officer has ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the driver or a passenger:
  • Has committed or is committing a violent offense, sex offense, or an escape; or
  • Is driving under the influence.
• The pursuit is necessary to identify or apprehend the person.
• The person poses an imminent threat to the safety of others.
• The safety risks of failing to apprehend or identify the person are considered greater than the safety risks associated with engaging in a pursuit.

The bill also modifies the procedures for supervisor involvement, including requiring the officer to receive authorization and oversight from a supervisor (or on-call supervisor in jurisdictions with fewer than ten commissioned officers) to engage in a vehicular pursuit.

SB 5352 has until March 29 to be voted out of the House Committee on Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry.