Public safety actions focus on immigration enforcement & local oversight, but not indigent defense

In a year with few new resources to strengthen public safety or the justice system, the Legislature moved in multiple ways to bolster oversight of law enforcement actions at the local and federal levels.

Responses to immigration activities

As the Legislature convened, recent federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions were top-of-mind concerns for legislators.

In response to incidents in other states of federal agents allegedly concealed their identities to conduct immigration sweeps in public, SB 5855 and HB 2173 were filed to introduce a private right of action for people detained by police wearing masks. Gov. Bob Ferguson quickly endorsed the legislation, putting it on a strong and ultimately successful path. As SB 5855 advanced, AWC and other organizations concerned with local public safety operations were able to obtain an exception for law enforcement officers who are wearing a mask while on duty but following existing law in visibly displaying their name and organization on their clothing.

Other public safety-related legislation aimed at addressing immigration actions and related situations had mixed outcomes. The Legislature passed Gov. Ferguson’s requested HB 2165 to create a crime to impersonate any law enforcement officer, addressing ambiguities reported during immigration sweeps. But HB 2351 to protect active emergency responders from exposure to immigration enforcement and other interventions did not advance to a floor vote. Neither did prohibitions on hiring former ICE officers (HB 2641), nor expanded duties for police officers when encountering ICE officers (HB 2648).

Starts become stops on public defense

Despite the filing of four new bills aimed at addressing the state’s ongoing indigent defense crisis, the Legislature made no progress in policy or funding for this critical area of need for local jurisdictions.

The following bills did not advance to floor votes:

• SB 5912: Reviving a state indigent defense task force
• HB 2163/SB 5913: Clarifying the precedence of the state Supreme Court’s 10-year timeline for reducing defender caseloads
• HB 1592: Revamping the funding system for city public defense

No new funding was introduced for public defense in the supplemental budget, and a section of the new state income tax on high earners that would have earmarked a portion of revenues to pay for city and county public defense services was amended out.

As the public defense caseload reductions mandated by the Supreme Court take effect, cities’ year-over-year costs for providing defense attorneys will continue to increase.

New limits in place for local police leadership and volunteers

A revival of 2025 legislation to set various limitations on law enforcement agencies succeeded in 2026 with the addition of more restrictions aimed at immigration enforcement concerns.

HB 5974 created new qualifications and background check requirements for police chiefs and county sheriffs and added a list of new restrictions for duties that can be assigned to police volunteers. The now-mandatory volunteer limits on duties closely tracked with those incentivized under HB 2015 in 2025, which made volunteer restrictions a requirement to access the new $100 million of public safety grants and impose a related sales tax.

However, HB 5974 also constrains volunteers’ access to police databases and surveillance tools, both of which were cited as potential areas where information could be misused to aid immigration enforcement. At AWC’s request after receiving cities’ feedback, exceptions to the new restrictions were added to allow volunteers to continue performing existing duties, including vacation house checks and monitoring police station cameras.

Miscellaneous public safety bills

A range of other bills in the general public safety field also had action this legislative session.

The Legislature passed HB 1909, which creates a statewide court unification task force to analyze Washington’s multiple court systems and offer recommendations on whether, and how, to create more unified operations. SB 5880, which addresses a testing backlog at the Washington State Patrol crime lab by allowing prosecutors to test evidence at certified private labs, also passed.

A handful of bills that did not pass this legislative session but have potential to return as new ideas again in the future include the following:

• HB 2102: Would have made sweeping and costly changes to how cities can impose and collect legal financial obligations in criminal cases
• HB 2389: Proposed sentence reductions for juvenile offenses and mandatory mid-sentence review hearings for potential release into communities
• SB 5280: Sought to establish new requirements on crypto kiosks that have become hotbeds for scams (especially targeting elder residents) in recent years
• SB 5890: Aimed to set a clearer threshold (30+ mph over the posted limit) for when an individual can be charged with negligent driving