AWC has advocated this legislative session for increased flexibility and tools for cities to fund public safety and criminal justice. Our main vehicle for this priority were companion bills: HB 2211 and SB 6076 giving cities the legislative authority to implement up to a three-tenths of 1% sales tax for criminal justice purposes. This could have been used for a variety of critically needed public safety and criminal justice purposes, including recruitment and retention of law enforcement officers, public defense and prosecutorial expenses, co-responder programs, and therapeutic courts and diversion programs.
We have been meeting with legislators since the fall to find a way forward for this priority. Unfortunately the legislature was not inclined this year to move this proposal forward. HB 2211 had a public hearing in mid-January and was never scheduled for a vote in the House Local Government Committee. AWC was optimistic about the Senate version, SB 6076, which had a public hearing on February 1. The bill lacked a clear way forward in the House, however, and was never scheduled for a vote out of the Senate Ways & Means Committee. The legislature was disinclined to move the bills forward given that it could amount to a tax increase, some hesitancy in funding additional law enforcement officers using a regressive tax, and the fact that the bill would have allowed a legislative authority to bypass the current law requirement to send this tax increase to the voters for approval.
Thank you to cities who came out to testify and signed-in to support public safety funding!
February 2, 2024
SB 6076 was heard in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Thursday. Watch the testimony on TVW. AWC continues to advocate to move SB 6076 forward in the process. It must be voted out of the Senate Ways & Means Committee by February 5, 2024. AWC encourages cities to continue to reach out to their legislators in support of this bill.
Contact your Senator with support for SB 6076 for public safety and criminal justice funding
January 26, 2024
AWC urges cities to contact their Senators to support SB 6076 granting local taxing authority to fund criminal justice. SB 6076, sponsored by Sen. Karen Keiser (D–Kent), creating a 0.3% sales and use tax for criminal justice purposes and is the companion to HB 2211, which had been moving until late this week. SB 6076 is scheduled for a public hearing on Thursday, February 1.
Unfortunately HB 2211 and HB 2231, introducing a 0.1% sales and use tax credited against the state tax, appear to be dead ahead of the January 31st policy committee cutoff.
AWC strongly supports SB 6076 as a viable path for cities to increase criminal justice funding – funding that could also be used for co-responder and therapeutic diversion treatment services for people experiencing behavioral health and substance use crises.
AWC encourages cities to reach out to their legislators in strong support of this bill.
Dates to remember
SB 6076 is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on February 1 at 1:30 pm.
Two bills to provide cities with additional revenue tools for public safety and criminal justice introduced
January 12, 2024
Exciting news for cities! The Legislature has introduced two new bills giving cities expanded revenue tools for public safety and criminal justice.
HB 2211, sponsored by Rep. Chris Stearns (D–Auburn), gives cities the legislative authority to implement up to a 0.3% sales and use tax for criminal justice purposes until January 1, 2027. For cities located within counties with an existing criminal justice sales tax, the combined total rate cannot exceed 0.3%. The bill also adds co-responder and diversion treatment services to the definition of criminal justice purposes.
The statutory definition of “criminal justice purposes” is broad, giving cities that adopt this tax flexibility in utilization of the revenue, including recruitment and retention of new police officers, adding or expanding co-responder and crisis response programs to address urgent community behavioral health needs, and diverting individuals into needed treatment and services for substance use disorder needs, and adding much-needed prosecutorial, public defense, and municipal court staffing.
HB 2231, sponsored by Rep. Amy Walen (D–Kirkland), introduces a new 0.1% sales and use tax, credited against the state tax. At least 50% of this tax would need to be used for attracting and retaining additional commissioned law enforcement officers while the remaining percentage would be used for criminal justice purposes. The timeline for implementation of the tax would be as follows:
- By January 1, 2025, all counties and cities with a population 8 of 50,000 or less could impose the sales and use tax.
- By January 1, 2027, all counties and cities with a population 10 between 50,000 and 175,000 could impose the sales and use tax.
- By January 1, 2029, all counties and cities could impose the sales and use tax.
Critically, the bill also removes the 25% cost share for city, county, or state law enforcement agencies sending new recruits to the CJTC’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA), meaning the state would pay 100% of costs.
The AWC Board voted to make recruiting and retaining police officers a 2024 Legislative priority (read the public safety fact sheet).
Dates to remember
HB 2211 is scheduled for public hearing in the House Local Government Committee on Tuesday, January 16 at 10:30 am and is scheduled for a vote in the same committee on Friday, January 19 at 10:30 am.
HB 2231 is scheduled for public hearing in the House Local Government Committee on Tuesday, January 16 at 10:30 am and is scheduled for a vote in the same committee on Friday, January 19 at 10:30 am.