Police Chiefs and Marshals.

Eligibility criteria for appointment as chief of police or marshal are modified, so that the same eligibility requirements apply for any city or town regardless of size or class, and the person must meet the requirements to maintain eligibility while serving in their appointed position.  New or amended criteria for appointment as chief of police or marshal provide that the person must:

• be age 25 or older;
• have not been convicted under foreign law of the equivalent to a felony;
• have not been convicted of a gross misdemeanor in the United States or the equivalent under foreign law at any time, unless the conviction has been vacated, rather than a crime involving moral turpitude within five years of application;
• have not engaged in conduct meeting the criteria requiring denial or revocation of certification;
• have at least five years of regular, full-time law enforcement agency employment with a government law enforcement agency, rather than two years of full-time commissioned law enforcement employment;
• have obtained certification within nine months of assuming office, unless extended by the CJTC, and maintained certification; and
• if not certified, have met the CJTC background investigation requirements for peace officers, and if certified, have met background investigation requirements, within six months prior to the date of appointment, confirming that the person meets the eligibility requirements and suitability standards. 

Eligibility criteria regarding discharge from military service, a high school diploma or equivalent certificate, and citizenship are unchanged.

The appointing authority is responsible for any fees associated with the background investigation to confirm that the person is eligible and meets the required standards.  Before making an appointment of chief of police or marshal, the appointing authority must attest that the eligibility requirements have been met, and that the person passed the background investigation. 

Persons currently serving as police chief or marshal at the time of the effective date are not required to meet the background investigation requirements, the requirement of five years of experience with a government law enforcement agency, or the minimum age requirements unless they seek appointment to a different office.  All other eligibility requirements apply.

The appointment of the chief of police or marshal is terminated, and a vacancy created, if the appointee does not maintain certification, is decertified, or other eligibility requirements are not maintained.  If there is a vacancy, the city or town appointing authority must appoint a replacement.  The person appointed to fill the vacancy must meet the eligibility requirements. 

Sheriffs.

Eligibility Requirements for Election or Appointment.

A person filing for candidacy for the office of sheriff, or seeking appointment to the same, must meet the same eligibility requirements for appointment as chief of police or marshal.  As with eligibility for appointment as chief of police or marshal, a person seeking to hold or holding the office of sheriff must obtain certification within nine months of assuming office, unless extended by the CJTC, and maintain certification while in office. 

If the person seeking election or appointment as sheriff does not have officer certification, prior to the election filing deadline, within 30 days after the election is certified, or at the time of appointment, the person must satisfy background investigation requirements for certification.  The WSP must conduct the background investigation.  If the person is not certified, the WSP must complete the part of the background investigation that confirms that the person has met the eligibility requirements prior to the election filing deadline, or if the request for the background investigation is made too close to the election filing deadline to meet that timeline, no later than the primary election.  The WSP may wait until after the primary election, for those candidates who advance to the general election, to complete the additional elements that must also be completed as part of the background investigation required for all peace officers.  If certified, the person must complete a background investigation confirming that the person meets the eligibility requirements for the office either prior to the election filing deadline, within 30 days after the election is certified, or at the time of appointment. 

The person filing for candidacy must submit a background investigation request to the WSP within six months of, and up to, the filing deadline.  Once the background investigation is completed, the WSP must submit verification to the CJTC that the person meets or does not meet eligibility criteria and has or has not passed the background investigation.  The WSP must notify the candidate or elected person.  For the purpose of the WSP accessing state and national criminal history record information, including mandatory fingerprint-based checks submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), any person who is not certified, filing for candidacy, elected, or seeking appointment to the office of sheriff is deemed an applicant for peace officer certification eligibility under the CJTC chapter.  Completion of this state and national criminal history record check is a mandatory condition of a person's candidacy, election, or appointment.

The CJTC must post on its website a list of candidates for sheriff who have:  (1) submitted the request for a background investigation; and (2) passed the required background investigation.  The WSP must develop and provide on its website by October 1, 2026, a standard form and process for persons filing for candidacy for sheriff to use in requesting the background investigation, including the required attestation that the person meets all the eligibility requirements, submission of fingerprints and all information necessary to conduct criminal history record checks, and all other information necessary for the WSP to conduct the background investigation.

In the case of appointment, the required background investigation must be completed by the appointing authority no earlier than six months prior to the date of appointment.  The appointing authority must submit verification to the CJTC that the person meets the eligibility criteria and has passed the background investigation. 

The county in which a person is seeking appointment or election as sheriff is responsible for any costs associated with the background investigation.  The county must reimburse the WSP for costs associated with the background investigation it conducts for any person seeking election as sheriff.  The appointing authority is responsible for all costs associated with the background investigation it conducts for any person being appointed as sheriff in that county. 

Persons seeking election or appointment as sheriff must provide a sworn statement under penalty of perjury to the WSP or to the appointing authority stating that they meet the eligibility requirements, and the appointing authority or the WSP, upon completion of the background investigation, must attest as part of the public record that the requirements have been met. 

Within 60 days after the election, the CJTC must post on its website a list of sheriffs who have completed the background investigation, and whether each passed or failed.

Persons holding the office of sheriff at the time of the effective date are not required to meet the background investigation requirements, the requirement of five years of experience with a government law enforcement agency, or the minimum age requirements unless they seek election or appointment to a different office.  All other eligibility requirements apply. 

A vacancy in the office of sheriff is created if the incumbent does not maintain certification, is decertified pursuant to a final decision, or other eligibility requirements are not maintained.  The county legislative authority must appoint a replacement for a vacancy in an elective office or an appointed position.  The person appointed to fill the vacancy must meet the eligibility requirements.

Duties.

In addition to other current duties of sheriffs and sheriff's deputies that remain unchanged, a new duty is added, requiring the sheriff and the sheriff's deputies to uphold and enforce the Washington Constitution and laws, as interpreted and applied by the state Supreme Court, and uphold the United States Constitution.  Other current duties are amended, so that sheriffs and sheriff's deputies:

• are authorized to address all violations of the law and arrest persons who break the law;
• must obey lawful judicial orders or directions; and
• must keep and preserve the peace and, in doing so, are authorized to work in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies pursuant to the Washington Mutual Aid Peace Officers Powers Act.

The sheriff and the sheriff's deputies may call to their aid volunteers and youth cadets, rather than persons or power of their county as they deem necessary.  Persons deputed by the sheriff in writing to conduct service of process are limited to functions and actions that do not involve the use of law enforcement authority or carrying of firearms or other weapons unless certified as peace officers.

Volunteers, Youth Cadets, and Specially Commissioned Officers.

Law enforcement agencies that use volunteers or youth cadets to assist in their work may not authorize them, unless they are certified, to:

• enforce criminal laws or civil immigration laws;
• engage in pursuits;
• detain or arrest;
• use force;
• carry or use firearms or other weapons, except for volunteers who are qualified retired law enforcement officers under the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act Improvements Act of 2010, who may be authorized to carry firearms as part of their volunteer work;
• use surveillance technologies; 
• share information from law enforcement databases; or
• use dogs to track people or animals, or to apprehend or bite people or animals.

Volunteers may be authorized to:

• use dogs to assist with search and rescue, including assisting with canine human remains detection, cadaver search, evidence search, or other search-oriented support of a law enforcement investigation; or
• assist with roles including technical and administrative support, bicycle recovery, community crime prevention coordination, vehicle maintenance, serving as faith leaders, transport, parking enforcement and traffic management, parks and recreation assistance, animal control and caring for domestic animals, and other public safety-related community service, education, and outreach work. 

Agency policies must:

• include limitations on the authority of, and permissible roles and required supervision for, volunteers and youth cadets;
• include limitations on the authority of, and requirements for, specially commissioned officers, including requirements that specially commissioned officers must be supervised by the law enforcement agency that commissioned them, other than when supervision has been lawfully delegated to another agency; 
• require appropriate training for any firearms or other weapons that specially commissioned officers or youth cadets are authorized to use; and
• require that volunteers, youth cadets, and specially commissioned officers be clearly identifiable by the public as such, distinguishable from peace officers, and limit the use of face coverings consistent with state law requirements for law enforcement. 

Sheriffs, police chiefs, and marshals must only provide badges or other identifying insignia to volunteers, youth cadets, and specially commissioned officers that are authorized in agency policy; such identification may only be used by volunteers, youth cadets, and specially commissioned officers while they are on duty in their authorized roles.  By January 1, 2027, any city or town that uses volunteers, youth cadets, or specially commissioned officers must adopt or amend its laws and ordinances to comply with these requirements.

"Youth cadets" are defined as participants in law enforcement agency training programs for careers in law enforcement.  A specially commissioned peace officer is not a volunteer for the purpose of the limitations placed on the use of volunteers by law enforcement agencies.

Criminal Justice Training Commission.

The CJTC must prioritize the access of sheriffs, police chiefs, and marshals to any CJTC training required for certification.  Appointing authorities, in addition to employing agencies, may only make conditional offers of employment pending completion of required background investigations.  The required background investigation for all peace officers, reserve officers, and corrections officers must be completed within six months prior to the offer of employment.  Language providing that an employing law enforcement agency may require a person to pay for a psychological examination, polygraph, or similar test, is removed. 

Law enforcement or correctional agencies that previously employed or received a person's application must disclose employment or application information within 30 days of receiving a written request from the employing agency conducting a background investigation.  This disclosure must include any information regarding the person's application to that agency, and other information obtained during the background investigation, in addition to the reason for the officer's separation from the agency.  Officers must indicate any prior application materials and background investigations conducted while seeking employment with other law enforcement agencies, including where the applicant began but did not complete a full background investigation.  Persons applying to law enforcement agencies for office or employment must authorize each prior agency to which the applicant has applied to release information relating to the person's application for employment, in addition to authorizing each prior employer to release information relating to the person's employment.

Persons determined by the background investigation to have engaged in conduct categorized as mandatory decertification criteria must be considered unsuitable for employment as a peace officer. 

All files, papers, and other information obtained as part of the background investigation are confidential and exempt from public disclosure.  The verification by the CJTC that the background investigation has been completed and whether it has been passed or failed is a public record.  The CJTC must retain background investigation files it receives.  An officer's records, kept by the CJTC, which are otherwise confidential and exempt from public disclosure, may be reviewed and copied by the officer or the officer's counsel or authorized representative only after the officer has been served with a statement of charges for certification denial, suspension, or revocation.  

Every individual, legal entity, and federal, state, or local government agency is immune from civil liability for providing information in good faith to the CJTC, employing agencies, potential employing agencies, or appointing authorities. 

Any officer who is required to obtain and maintain certification and who has had their certification denied, revoked, or voluntarily surrendered and not reinstated in this state or any other state may not serve in any role as a peace officer, corrections officer, limited authority Washington peace officer, specially commissioned officer, or reserve officer. 

Police Matrons.

The chapter relating to police matrons is repealed.

(In support) This legislation is about accountability.  Any person in leadership should be held to the same standards to which they hold their subordinates.  There is strong support for the bill.  There are no qualifications in state law to be a sheriff other than completing training within a year.  Law enforcement is given extensive power and authority, and this power and authority is even more significant for those who lead law enforcement agencies.  The law needs to include steps for when certification of a sheriff, police chief, or marshal is revoked.  Other states including Georgia, Texas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Oregon require certification and other requirements for sheriffs.  Serious misconduct is no less serious because the person who committed it is a sheriff rather than a police chief, or was elected rather than appointed.  This bill establishes appropriate, consistent, professional eligibility standards for sheriffs, police chiefs, and marshals.  This legislation strengthens democracy by ensuring that voters can trust that everyone who aspires to lead a law enforcement agency meets professional standards.  An important principle of the rule of law is that all people are held to account equally, and this is even more important whenever there is misconduct involved with the kinds of power or authority that law enforcement leaders have.  State law requires a fair and thorough process to determine if officer certification should be revoked.  If a law enforcement leader's certification is revoked for misconduct, they should not remain in office, continuing to have power and authority to enforce laws.  This bill requires that sheriffs are certified peace officers and pass background checks.  Just as judges must maintain their licenses to practice law, law enforcement leadership should maintain their certification to enforce it.  This policy would align the state with the rest of the West Coast and many other states in the country.  When an officer engages in serious misconduct and loses their certification, the consequences are definitive.  This bill ensures that the same principle applies at the leadership level.  This is not unchartered territory; there are other states that have updated their laws with similar eligibility and certification requirements.  

The bill also clarifies a core principle that sheriffs must uphold and enforce the Washington Constitution and state laws as interpreted by the Washington Supreme Court.  Further, the bill sets clear boundaries around volunteers, so only certified officers exercise law enforcement authority.  The bill makes it clear it is the court, not the sheriff, that determines whether or not a law is constitutional.  The bill enhances community trust and ensures that sheriffs implement and enforce the laws that are enacted by the Legislature.  The bill also reins in the ability of a sheriff to use a posse.  This means that only people with training, authority, and clear accountability may perform arrests, engage in pursuits, or carry firearms.  These reforms are especially urgent right now, as fear and mistrust of law enforcement is on the rise. 

(Opposed) There is strong opposition to the bill.  The office of sheriff is constitutionally created, and sheriffs are accountable to the voters of their county, not the Legislature.  Sheriffs are not afraid of accountability.  Every sheriff is certified, and no sheriff has been decertified while in office.  Certification and professional standards are not issues for sheriffs and police chiefs across the state.  There is already the recall process for sheriffs who abuse their power.  This process has existed for 137 years and works tremendously well.  The only county in the state that uses armed volunteers is Klickitat County.  Those armed volunteers are specially commissioned to guard the courthouse, and without them, there would not be security at the courthouse because they do not have the funds for it.  This bill undermines two bedrock principles of state law:  voter sovereignty and free elections.  This bill allows a CJTC decertification to vacate an elected sheriff's office, bypassing the constitutional recall process.  Removal of an elected official must remain in the hands of the people, not an unelected board.  Prefiling CJTC approval creates an unelected gatekeeper to candidacy, violating the constitutional right of free and equal elections.  Beyond constitutional defects, the bill imposes unfunded mandates, costly background checks, and volunteer restrictions that cripple search and rescue and chaplaincy programs.  This bill is another unfunded mandate that is going to come down hard on rural communities.  There are already constitutionally prescribed remedies for elected sheriffs who violate the law or their oaths of office.  It is meant to be a high bar to remove an elected official from office; this authority should not be given to an unelected board of people who do not have the necessary experience to determine whether a sheriff has acted inappropriately or not.  People have been elected as sheriff who do not have experience in law enforcement.  To be elected to office is not easy.  To be elected, a person has to convince the voters that they have the necessary prerequisites to do the job, and that is the vetting process.  There is nothing in the bill that cannot be addressed through the current processes.

(Other) There are concerns that, as originally drafted, this bill could cause uncertainty and expensive litigation.  There needs to be clarification that the sheriff's office becomes vacant only upon a final determination of decertification.  An elected office should not be statutorily vacated until after an opportunity for review by the Washington Supreme Court, same as with judges, lawyers, and elected prosecutors.  A polygraph and psychological examination should be removed from the eligibility requirements because this will cause litigation for counties.  Additionally, the requirement of five years of experience with a government law enforcement agency should not be applied retroactively because this would result in immediate consequences and legal challenges.  This bill will result in litigation. 

(In support) Senator John Lovick, prime sponsor; Cassie Clayton, Northwest Progressive Institute; Malou Chavez, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project; Karen Peacey, League of Women Voters Washington; Kristin Ang, Faith Action Network; Kim Mosolf, Disability Rights Washington; Elizabeth Hendren, Sexual Violence Law Center; Renee Hopkins, Alliance for Gun Responsibility; Damiana Merryweather, Fuse Washington; Anita Yandle, New York School of Law Policing Project; and Eliana Machefsky, National Police Accountability Project.

More than 20 persons signed in. Please contact the House Public Records Office at https://leg.wa.gov/public-records-requests/ or call (360) 786-0926.