BILL REQ. #:  H-1204.4 

Read first time 02/11/13.   Referred to Committee on Public Safety.

     AN ACT Relating to responsibility for compensation paid to peace officers while enrolled in basic law enforcement training; and adding a new section to chapter 43.101 RCW.

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 a peace officer's training agency for any training, salary, and benefits received by the peace officer while he or she was enrolled in basic law enforcement training, if the law enforcement agency hires the respective peace officer within five years of the peace officer's completion of basic law enforcement training. The hiring law enforcement agency shall reimburse the training agency within ninety days of the peace officer's first day of employment based on the following reimbursement amounts: (a) The training agency shall be reimbursed for one hundred percent of the total amount of salary, benefits, and any training received by the peace officer if the peace officer was hired by the law enforcement agency within one year or less of the peace officer's completion of the basic law enforcement training; (b) the training agency shall be reimbursed for eighty percent of the total amount of salary, benefits, and any training received by the peace officer if the peace officer was hired by the law enforcement agency within one year plus one day but no more than two years of the peace officer's completion of the basic law enforcement training; (c) the training agency shall be reimbursed for sixty percent of the total amount of salary, benefits, and any training received by the peace officer if the peace officer was hired by the law enforcement agency within two years plus one day but no more than three years of the peace officer's completion of the basic law enforcement training; (d) the training agency shall be reimbursed for forty percent of the total amount of salary, benefits, and any training received by the peace officer if the peace officer was hired by the law enforcement agency within three years plus one day but no more than four years of the peace officer's completion of the basic law enforcement training; (e) the training agency shall be reimbursed for twenty percent of the total amount of salary, benefits, and any training received by the peace officer if the peace officer was hired by the law enforcement agency within four years plus one day but no more than five years of the peace officer's completion of the basic law enforcement training; and (f) no reimbursement shall be required to be provided to the training agency if the peace officer was hired by the law enforcement agency more than five years after the peace officer's completion of the basic law enforcement training.
     (2) For the purposes of this section, "training agency" means a law enforcement agency that: (a) Pays salary and any benefits to a peace officer while he or she is enrolled in basic law enforcement training; (b) pays any percentage of training for a peace officer along with any necessary facilities, supplies, materials, and room and board of noncommuting attendees pursuant to RCW 43.101.200; (c) has ten or less full-time commissioned peace officers; or (d) pays a salary of one hundred fifty dollars or less per month than the hiring law enforcement agency that has employed the respective peace officer.