$100 million grants & new councilmanic sales tax for public safety

Contacts: Derrick Nunnally, Emma Shepard, Candice Bock

In 2025, the Legislature passed HB 2015 creating two new pathways for cities to fund public safety in their communities. AWC is here to help cities access that funding with information, tools, and resources.

Note: This page is for informational purposes only. Final guidance will come from the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC). Please consult your own legal counsel for specific questions about your city.

About HB 2015

The new law sets up two mechanisms for funding public safety:

1. A three-year $100 million grant program for hiring, retaining, and training new police officers and co-responders; and
2. A councilmanic 0.1% local sales tax authority for broad public safety and criminal justice needs.

The two new funding tools are separate from one another. However, there are policy and training requirements that cities and their police departments must meet to be eligible for the grant and sales tax.

A council can implement the sales tax without applying for or receiving grant money. But a jurisdiction must have also met the requirements of the grant in order to impose the new tax.

Similarly, in order to receive grant money, a city or county needs to have received funds from or authorized at least one of three public safety sales taxes (two existing and/or the new one created in this law). Read more about the two existing sales taxes in the more information section of this page, which are the Criminal Justice Sales Tax (RCW 82.14.340) and Public Safety Sales Tax (RCW 82.14.450).

New grant program

The bill establishes a new state-funded grant program administered by the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC). To be eligible, cities must meet a series of requirements (detailed in the requirements section of this page).

Quick facts about the grant:

• Amount: $100 million grant pool, administered by CJTC
• Length: Three years (expires June 30, 2028)
• Use: Local law enforcement agencies can use grants for:
  • Hiring: New officer and co-responder recruiting, hiring, and retaining (lateral hires are prohibited)
  • Training: Funding use of force, de-escalation, crisis intervention, and trauma-informed trainings for officers to comply with CJTC’s required trainings
  • Other: Grants may also be used for broader law enforcement and public safety efforts, including:
    • Emergency management planning
    • Environmental hazard mitigations
    • Security personnel
    • Community outreach and assistance programs
    • Alternative response programs
    • Mental health crisis response
• Limitation: Grants can cover 75% of salary + benefits for up to three years (up to a maximum of $125,000 per position)
• City or county must:
  • Receive funding from an existing sales tax for public safety, or authorize the new one
  • Comply with new policies on agency leader qualifications and volunteer limitations
  • Implement trainings and data reporting in alignment with CJTC capacity
• Co-response priority:
  • Top funding priority goes to grant applications to start co-response or community immersion law enforcement programs
  • Second priority goes to agencies with existing co-response programs
  • Applications from all other agencies get next priority

New local option sales tax

The bill also allows the legislative body of a city and/or county to establish a new local option sales and use tax. To be eligible, cities must meet the same requirements laid out for grant eligibility (detailed in the requirements section of this page).

Quick facts about the sales tax:

• Local legislative authority: The tax can be imposed by councilmanic action through June 2028
• Stackable: The taxes can stack with other sales taxes and revenues are not shared with other jurisdictions
• Broad use: A city and/or county can impose the new 0.1% sales tax for broadly defined criminal justice purposes, including:
  • Domestic violence services
  • Public defenders
  • Diversion program
  • Reentry work for inmates
  • Reducing homelessness or improving behavioral health
  • Community placements for juvenile offenders
  • Community outreach, alternative response, mental health crisis response
• Requirements: The tax can only be collected if the city or county meets all the requirements to apply for the CJTC grant program in this bill (but no requirement to apply for the grant)
• Caveat: The jurisdiction’s voters must not have rejected or repealed a public safety tax within 12 months

Requirements to qualify for a grant and/or sales tax

To be eligible, a law enforcement agency must have:

• AGO training & polices: Established policies that comply with state law as well as the Attorney General’s guidance for law enforcement practices related to citizenship status
• CJTC trainings: Participated in CJTC trainings related to behavioral health and first aid
• Use of force policies: Established policies on de-escalation and use of force that incorporate the Attorney General’s guidance on duty to intervene and use of police dogs
• Use of force database: Complied with state laws on use of force data reporting (once that state program is operational)
• Court-ordered firearm relinquishment: Established policies related to civil protection orders and the court-ordered surrender of firearms
• Crisis intervention training: At least 25% of officers who have completed CJTC crisis intervention team training
• Gender-based violence trainings: 100% completion by required officers for CJTC trainings on sexual assault and gender-based violence
• Public safety sales taxes: Received funds from or authorized a public safety or criminal justice sales tax
• Leadership requirements: A police chief, sheriff, or marshal who is CJTC-certified and has no felony convictions or gross misdemeanor convictions for moral turpitude, dishonesty, fraud, or corruption
• Volunteer requirements: Established policies for supervising agency volunteers, any insignia worn by volunteers, and for restricting those volunteers from enforcing criminal laws other than for special event traffic and parking, using force, carrying weapons, or using dogs for purposes besides search and rescue

Grant applicants must also submit to the CJTC:

• Staffing plans: Detailed agency staffing reports and plans including numbers of co-response teams, administrative staff, specially commissioned officers, and officers on flexible schedules
• 911 & case-closure rates: Average rates for the preceding year for 911 responses and case closures

Timeline

Frequently asked questions

How can a three-year grant work for making permanent hires?
The pairing of the two tracks of funding gives cities a path to accessing both seed money to expand their operations (the grant) and a sustainable funding path to maintaining this expansion (the sales tax).

Why is the grant and tax funding available for uses besides hiring officers?
The $100 million in grants is only available to law enforcement agencies, so control of how it will be spent is in the hands of cities. The flexibility that city leaders will have to use this money reflects the differing needs of communities around the state. The ability to use the funds for hiring officers as well as other public safety needs reflects that communities have different public safety priorities and provides flexibility to meet those priorities.

The sales tax is available for permanent implementation for public safety and criminal justice uses, and will enable flexibility as city needs evolve.

When will we know how to get this money?
A city can submit qualifications to CJTC for the sales tax and vote to authorize the tax as soon as the law takes effect July 27. It does not have to wait for CJTC’s rulemaking on the grant process.

CJTC will have 45 days from receiving qualifications to report any deficiencies. The city will then have 180 days to respond and correct any deficiencies. Cities that do not meet the qualifications and still collect the tax would be subject to penalties.

CJTC will be setting up the grant application process in the coming months. Check back here periodically as we work with CJTC and update this page with more grant administration information and logistics.

How can my city use the sales tax revenue?
The 0.1% sales tax revenues can be used for “criminal justice purposes” at the discretion of the imposing authority. The bill specifies example services defined as:

• Domestic violence services: Includes services provided by domestic violence programs, community advocates, and legal advocates
• Criminal justice purposes: Includes activities that substantially assist the criminal justice system, which may include circumstances where ancillary benefit to the civil justice and behavioral health systems occurs, and includes:
  • Staffing adequate public defenders to provide appropriate defense for individuals
  • Diversion programs
  • Reentry work for inmates
  • Local government programs that have a reasonable relationship to reducing the numbers of people interacting with the criminal justice system including, but not limited to, reducing homelessness or improving behavioral health
  • Community placements for juvenile offenders
  • Community outreach and assistance programs, alternative response programs, and mental health crisis response including, but not limited to, the recovery navigator program

Who do we have to share sales tax revenues with?
There is no requirement to share revenues with the county or any other local government. The sales taxes are stackable, meaning the city and the county can each impose a 0.1% tax, on top of the existing public safety and criminal justice sales taxes (see more information section on this page).

Does the sales tax expire at the end of three years?
The sales tax has no expiration date. However, if your jurisdiction’s council does not pass the tax by that date, imposing the tax afterward would require voter approval.

That means cities wanting to pass the tax by a vote of their council should work to do so before June 30, 2028.

Is the grant’s $125,000 state match per position also per year?
No, the state’s grant share of 75% for entry-level salaries and fringe benefits for local law enforcement has a $125,000 maximum per position over the total 36-month cycle (not per year).

Additional costs for salaries and benefits higher than entry level are the responsibility of the grant-recipient agency.

Who do I ask if I have more questions?
Email Derrick Nunnally and Emma Shepard and we will respond, and could feature your question here!

More information & resources

Other existing public safety sales taxes

The bill states that in order to qualify for a grant or impose the new public safety sales tax, a jurisdiction must receive or have approved either the sales tax in HB 2015, and/or at least one of the following two existing public safety sales taxes:

• RCW 82.14.340: Criminal Justice Sales Tax
  • Sales tax of 0.1% – revenues must be used for criminal justice purposes
  • May only be imposed by county (does not require voter approval), but revenue is shared with cities
  • Counties receive 10%, with remaining 90% split between the county and its cities on a per capita basis
• RCW 82.14.450: Public Safety Sales Tax
  • Sales tax up to 0.1% for cities – 1/3 of revenues must be used for criminal justice and/or fire protection
  • Requires voter approval and the combined rate of a city and county cannot exceed 0.3%
  • May be imposed by any city or town (but only if county has not previously imposed its own full 0.3% of the public safety sales tax)
  • If city imposes tax, revenue shared with county (85% city, 15% county split)
  • If county imposes tax, revenue shared with cities (60% county, 40% to cities, divided per capita)

To look more in-depth at which cities and counties impose the above listed sales taxes and at what rate, download this handy spreadsheet from MRSC using Washington State Department of Revenue sales tax data (as of July 1, 2025).

Resources

CJTC: Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission