Washington Sen. John Brown, R-Centralia, speaks during a Senate debate on March 8, 2023. Senate lawmakers voted Wednesday to lower the thresholds for police harassment in the state.
ssowersby@mcclatchy.com
In a surprise turn Wednesday, Senate lawmakers voted to revive legislation that would modify current laws on police pursuits.
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The bill would lower the threshold for law enforcement officials to be able to pursue suspects in certain instances, and passed the Senate with a 26-23 vote.
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The Senate version of the bill did not go through the usual process of committee hearings and executive sessions, and had not gone further than an introduction in the Legislature prior to Wednesday. Instead, the rules were suspended to suddenly bring the bill to the debate floor for a vote.
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The move came after House Republican lawmakers Tuesday attempted to bring a companion House version of the bill that had gone through the committee process for a final debate to the floor. House Democrats voted on party lines not to move that version from the Rules Committee after the request, however, despite the bill having several Democrats signed on as sponsors and co-sponsors.
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Wednesday is the cutoff date for bills to be passed from their house of origin.
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Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, sponsored Senate Bill 5352. Six other Democrats and eight Republicans also signed on to co-sponsor the Senate version of the bill.
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“I know this is a difficult decision for most members,” Lovick said during the Senate debate Wednesday. “I hope this legislation will bring our community together, I hope that this legislation will strike a balance and give our fantastic peace officers the tools they need to do their job to the best of their ability.”
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Lovick said he also recognized that this particular type of legislation will cause “fear” in communities of color.
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Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond sponsored a striking amendment that was adopted on the floor. The striker did several things to the proposed bill, said Dhingra.
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“It changes the standard for when a law enforcement officer may engage in a vehicle pursuit from probable cause to reasonable suspicion,” she explained. “That is one of the lowest thresholds that we have in the legal system.”
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Dhingra clarified that officers could pursue if there was reasonable suspicion that violent crime, vehicular assault, domestic violence assault or an escape had occurred. The reasonable suspicion standard for driving while under the influence would still be maintained in the new legislation, she said.
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The standard for police pursuit would be lowered from probable cause to reasonable suspicion for serious sex offenses, as well.
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The proposed bill also changes the threshold for pursuit from individuals posing an “imminent” threat, to those posing a “serious risk of harm,” Dhingra said.
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Approval from a supervisor would no longer be needed to pursue, and law enforcement officials would instead be authorized to inform a supervisor that they are pursuing. Right as a pursuit starts, officers must come up with a plan to determine how to end the pursuit, Dhingra added.
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Training for law enforcement officers would also be required under the proposed legislation.
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“No one wants to be hurt,” Dhingra said. “We want our law enforcement officers to protect the public–We want them to protect everyone in the public and unfortunately that has not been the case. That’s why a lot of these bills were done through the legislation–because the judgment that was being used needed to be adjusted and hopefully with this striking amendment, there will be that pause to use that judgment in a way that truly is for the benefit of the public in ensuring that everyone is safe.”
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Three amendments to the bill were also introduced by Senate Republicans, but were not adopted.
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Not everyone voted in favor of the final passage of the legislation, and both Senate Democrats and Republicans voted against the measure.
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Some Democrats argued that the bill went too far, while some Republicans argued that the bill didn’t go far enough.
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“I would characterize this bill as a half-step in the right direction, but not nearly sufficient to address the challenges we have in our state,” said Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia. “I genuinely appreciate the courage of the folks of the Majority who stood up today and demanded this bill be pulled up and considered on the floor. That’s a big move and I deeply appreciate this, and I understand that it causes some division over there but this bill isn’t there yet–we have lawlessness in our streets and this bill is not going to fix that.”
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Sen. T’wina Nobles, D-Fircrest, also spoke to other Senators on the debate floor Wednesday before voting against the proposed legislation.
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“I do want to acknowledge that there are lots of crimes, in fact there’s a list of violent crimes that should result in a vehicular pursuit, but crimes like misdemeanors and property crimes…we do need to make sure we are placing the value on human life,” Nobles said.
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Her district is overrepresented in the data that shows pursuits are causing harm to residents, she said.
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“I also want to acknowledge that it is a false choice and it is simply unfair.. that we’ve been pitted against law enforcement as legislators who are standing as caring leaders,” Nobles noted.
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In 2021, House Bill 1054 was passed by the Legislature and later signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee, preventing police officers from engaging in vehicle pursuits in certain instances, but still allowed officers to pursue suspects if they had reasonable suspicion to believe a driver was under the influence, or if there was probable cause that a driver had committed violent or sexual crimes.
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Reasonable suspicion comes before probable cause, and means that a police officer has reason to believe a crime has been committed. Reasonable suspicion becomes probable cause when a crime has obviously been committed.
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If the proposed legislation is passed by the House chamber and signed into law by Inslee, the legislation would go into effect 90 days after the legislative session adjourns on April 23.
This story was originally published March 8, 2023 at 5:34 p.m.
