BILL REQ. #:  H-4290.1 

Read first time 01/16/08.   Referred to Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.

     AN ACT Relating to responsibility for compensation paid to officers while enrolled in basic law enforcement training; amending RCW 82.14.330; adding new sections to chapter 43.101 RCW; and making an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 43.101 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A law enforcement agency shall reimburse an officer's training agency for the total amount of salary and benefits received by the officer while he or she was enrolled in basic law enforcement training if the law enforcement agency: (a) Is larger than the training agency, thereby employing a greater number of full-time commissioned officers; and (b) hires the respective officer within twenty-four months of the officer's completion of basic law enforcement training. The law enforcement agency shall reimburse the training agency within ninety days of the officer's first day of employment.
     (2) For the purposes of this section, "training agency" means a law enforcement agency that: (a) Pays salary and any benefits to an officer while he or she is enrolled in basic law enforcement training; and (b) has ten or less full-time commissioned law enforcement officers.

Sec. 2   RCW 82.14.330 and 2003 c 90 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Beginning in fiscal year 2000, the state treasurer shall transfer into the municipal criminal justice assistance account for distribution under this section from the general fund the sum of four million six hundred thousand dollars divided into four equal deposits occurring on July 1, October 1, January 1, and April 1. For each fiscal year thereafter, the state treasurer shall increase the total transfer by the fiscal growth factor, as defined in RCW 43.135.025, forecast for that fiscal year by the office of financial management in November of the preceding year. ((The moneys))
     (a) Of the total amount deposited in the municipal criminal justice assistance account for distribution under this section, less any moneys appropriated for purposes under subsection (4) of this section, a total of three hundred thousand dollars shall be distributed to the criminal justice training commission to reimburse participating city law enforcement agencies with ten or fewer full-time commissioned patrol officers for the cost of temporary replacement of each officer who is enrolled in basic law enforcement training provided in RCW 43.101.200.
     (b) In addition to any moneys remaining undistributed by the criminal justice training commission in (a) of this subsection, the remaining amount deposited in the municipal criminal justice assistance account shall be distributed to the cities of the state as follows:
     (((a))) (i) Twenty percent appropriated for distribution shall be distributed to cities with a three-year average violent crime rate for each one thousand in population in excess of one hundred fifty percent of the statewide three-year average violent crime rate for each one thousand in population. The three-year average violent crime rate shall be calculated using the violent crime rates for each of the preceding three years from the annual reports on crime in Washington state as published by the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs. Moneys shall be distributed under this subsection (1)(((a))) (b)(i) ratably based on population as last determined by the office of financial management, but no city may receive more than one dollar per capita. ((Moneys remaining undistributed under this subsection at the end of each calendar year shall be distributed to the criminal justice training commission to reimburse participating city law enforcement agencies with ten or fewer full-time commissioned patrol officers the cost of temporary replacement of each officer who is enrolled in basic law enforcement training, as provided in RCW 43.101.200.
     (b))) (ii) Sixteen percent shall be distributed to cities ratably based on population as last determined by the office of financial management, but no city may receive less than one thousand dollars.
     The moneys deposited in the municipal criminal justice assistance account for distribution under this subsection shall be distributed at such times as distributions are made under RCW 82.44.150.
     Moneys distributed under this subsection shall be expended exclusively for criminal justice purposes and shall not be used to replace or supplant existing funding. Criminal justice purposes are defined as activities that substantially assist the criminal justice system, which may include circumstances where ancillary benefit to the civil justice system occurs, and which includes domestic violence services such as those provided by domestic violence programs, community advocates, and legal advocates, as defined in RCW 70.123.020. Existing funding for purposes of this subsection is defined as calendar year 1989 actual operating expenditures for criminal justice purposes. Calendar year 1989 actual operating expenditures for criminal justice purposes exclude the following: Expenditures for extraordinary events not likely to reoccur, changes in contract provisions for criminal justice services, beyond the control of the local jurisdiction receiving the services, and major nonrecurring capital expenditures.
     (2) In addition to the distributions under subsection (1) of this section:
     (a) Ten percent shall be distributed on a per capita basis to cities that contract with another governmental agency for the majority of the city's law enforcement services. Cities that subsequently qualify for this distribution shall notify the department of community, trade, and economic development by November 30th for the upcoming calendar year. The department of community, trade, and economic development shall provide a list of eligible cities to the state treasurer by December 31st. The state treasurer shall modify the distribution of these funds in the following year. Cities have the responsibility to notify the department of community, trade, and economic development of any changes regarding these contractual relationships. Adjustments in the distribution formula to add or delete cities may be made only for the upcoming calendar year; no adjustments may be made retroactively.
     (b) The remaining fifty-four percent shall be distributed to cities and towns by the state treasurer on a per capita basis. These funds shall be used for: (i) Innovative law enforcement strategies; (ii) programs to help at-risk children or child abuse victim response programs; and (iii) programs designed to reduce the level of domestic violence or to provide counseling for domestic violence victims.
     The moneys deposited in the municipal criminal justice assistance account for distribution under this subsection, less any moneys appropriated for purposes under subsection (4) of this section, shall be distributed at the times as distributions are made under RCW 82.44.150. ((Moneys remaining undistributed under this subsection at the end of each calendar year shall be distributed to the criminal justice training commission to reimburse participating city law enforcement agencies with ten or fewer full-time commissioned patrol officers the cost of temporary replacement of each officer who is enrolled in basic law enforcement training, as provided in RCW 43.101.200.))
     If a city is found by the state auditor to have expended funds received under this subsection in a manner that does not comply with the criteria under which the moneys were received, the city shall be ineligible to receive future distributions under this subsection until the use of the moneys are justified to the satisfaction of the director or are repaid to the state general fund.
     (3) Notwithstanding other provisions of this section, the distributions to any city that substantially decriminalizes or repeals its criminal code after July 1, 1990, and that does not reimburse the county for costs associated with criminal cases under RCW 3.50.800 or 3.50.805(2), shall be made to the county in which the city is located.
     (4) Not more than five percent of the funds deposited to the municipal criminal justice assistance account shall be available for appropriations for enhancements to the state patrol crime laboratory system and the continuing costs related to these enhancements. Funds appropriated from this account for such enhancements shall not supplant existing funds from the state general fund.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 43.101 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) There is established in the criminal justice training commission a grant program to reimburse law enforcement training agencies for salary and benefits received by an officer in training.
     (2) The criminal justice training commission shall make grant awards, subject to funds appropriated by the legislature, to training agencies as defined under section 1(2) of this act under the following terms:
     (a) Beginning on July 1, 2008, grant awards shall be used to reimburse city law enforcement agencies for each full-time commissioned patrol officer that has been hired and employed at its agency for at least twenty-four months but not more than forty-eight months after such patrol officer has completed training at the criminal justice training commission.
     (b) Any portion of a new full-time commissioned officer's salary or benefits that have been reimbursed under section 1 of this act shall not be eligible for a grant award under this section.
     (c) Eligibility for grant awards shall primarily be given to, but is not limited to, training agencies that show a high level of need, as evidenced by training-related costs, vacancy rates, turnover rates, small agency size, and other exigent financial circumstances.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   The sum of five hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, from the general fund to the criminal justice training commission for the purposes of implementing section 3 of this act.