WA committee passes bipartisan bill to rollback laws limiting police pursuits
Laws regarding vehicular pursuits in Washington state could again get a makeover under legislation that passed out of committee on Thursday.
The House Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry Committee voted nearly unanimously to pass the measure. Rep. Darya Farivar, D-Seattle, was the lone no vote.
Sponsored by Rep. Alicia Rule, D-Blaine, and Rep. Eric Robertson, R-Sumner, the substitute version of House Bill 1363 would restore the reasonable suspicion threshold for police to pursue drivers they believe have committed one of six particular crimes: violent offenses, sex offenses, vehicular assaults, escapes, assault involving domestic violence, and driving under the influence.
Officers also could engage in pursuits if the suspect poses a “serious risk of harm to others,” under the proposal.
HB 1363 was passed out of committee with an amendment that includes a sunset clause set for 2025, meaning the legislation could be overturned down the road if the bill is not working as intended. The law would then revert to how it is written currently.
Rep. Gina Mosbrucker, R-Goldendale, told the committee she thinks the bill is a “good compromise.”
House Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry Committee Vice Chair Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton, told the committee that voting for the legislation was one of the hardest votes she’s had to make yet as a legislator because she personally didn’t want to vote in favor of the policy, but knew that her constituents were in favor of the rollback.
Despite wide bipartisan support and sponsorship for the proposed bill, it could still potentially stall in the Senate.
Senate Deputy Majority Caucus Leader Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, previously told reporters that she would not let the bill be heard if it made it over from the House chambers.
When asked if any of the new changes made to the bill would make her more likely to bring the bill forward, the senator responded through her office, telling McClatchy that “the bill still has to run its course in the House.”
HB 1363 would roll back provisions in the law that were just passed by state legislators in 2021.
In 2021, House Bill 1054 was passed by the Legislature and later signed into law by 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.
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.
Since the law went into effect, law enforcement agencies, including the Washington State Patrol, say there has been an increase in people driving away during traffic stops because they know they can’t be pursued.
Gov. Jay Inslee was asked Thursday during a news conference about the new bill’s passage from the House committee. He said he is willing to accept some changes to the current law to give law enforcement officers some flexibility during pursuits in certain circumstances.
“I think that is the right approach,” Inslee said. “We’ve learned some things since the bill originally passed so I’m open to those ideas. But obviously I can’t sign a bill that doesn’t get to my desk, so I hope legislators will continue to discuss that and hope some bill can get to my desk.”
Friday is the first cutoff date in the 2023 Legislature. All bills must be passed out of their committee of origin to still be considered.
The legislative session ends on April 23.
This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "WA committee passes bipartisan bill to rollback laws limiting police pursuits."
