Contact your legislators right now about critical public safety funding bills

There are still three bills alive in the Legislature to address our city priority of providing new and increased resources to keep communities safe and thriving.

Contact your legislators now and ask them to support these proposals and tell them why public safety matters to your shared constituents. Ask your Representatives to support HB 2015 and ask your Senators to support SB 5060 & SB 5775.

Please take a few minutes to act today. The Legislature faces a critical deadline tomorrow, March 12, for bills to be voted out of the Senate or House to stay alive this session.

Background

• HB 2015: Establishes a local option sales tax to fund public safety and creates a grant and direct funding process for eligible cities and counties.
  • This much-needed local funding option would help generate ongoing sustainable revenue to support enhanced services.
  • Cities want to make sure this proposal provides the necessary fiscal support, while also ensuring that the communities it’s intended to benefit can access the resources.
• SB 5060: Creates a three-year, $100 million grant program to hire new officers, covering 75% of salaries and benefits up to $125,000.
  • This approach is limited to hiring new officers and co-responders, which could be restrictive for some communities needing more holistic public safety funding needs, such as courts or funding existing officers.
  • The bill also contains officer training requirements for grant eligibility, which may create cost barriers for some communities.
  • The funding sunsets after three years, which would then leave cities on the line to pay for already-hired officers through the program.
• SB 5775: Expands authority for cities and counties to impose the existing local public safety sales tax councilmanically.
  • Cities support this approach because local elected officials are delegated the critical role of making important local budget decisions on behalf of their constituents, and are directly accountable to voters.
  • Under the existing statute, 1/3 of the voter-approved funds must be used for criminal justice purposes. But if a city council instead imposes the tax, then all the revenue must be used for public safety or criminal justice purposes.
  • We support an amendment to authorize cities to enact any revenue authority not exercised by their county.

Public safety talking points

• 40% of city budgets fund public safety & criminal justice: Community public safety needs are growing, but cities – which employ 60% of Washington’s law enforcement officers – can’t keep up without a robust partnership and resources from the state.
• Public safety services are increasing in cost: Officer salaries have increased 20% in the last five years and about 1/3 of current officers are at or near retirement.
• Holistic public safety resources: Cities need ongoing and sustainable revenue to fund police officers alongside other critical components of the criminal justice system such as courts, prosecutors, public defenders, and diversion programs.
• Behavioral health co-response: Cities need help sustaining other vital programs that address community safety like behavioral health crisis response.

Reach out to AWC’s Derrick Nunnally or Emma Shepard if you have any questions or feedback.

Association of Washington Cities  •  1076 Franklin St SE  •  Olympia, WA 98501

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