SENATE BILL REPORT

SHB 2785

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Adds an additional public member and a representative of federally-recognized tribes to the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) for a total of 16 members.
Requires one CJTC public member from east and one from west of the Cascade mountains and at least one of the two public members must be from an historically underrepresented community or communities.
Adds one tribal chair, board member, council member, or designee from a federally-recognized tribe with an active certification agreement with the CJTC.

Majority Report: Do pass.

Signed by Senators Pedersen, Chair; Dhingra, Vice Chair; Padden, Ranking Member; Holy, Kuderer, Salomon and Wilson, L..

Background: The Legislature established the CJTC in 1974 to provide programs and standards for training criminal justice personnel. The CJTC provides training for peace officers and local corrections officers. The CJTC also certifies, and when necessary decertifies peace officers. Washington is one of only a few states that provides a statewide basic peace officer training at the Criminal Justice Training Center and determines the training standards. The Governor appoints the 14 member CJTC. The attorney general, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Seattle office, and the chief of the Washington State Patrol are CJTC members.

Tribal governments may voluntarily request CJTC certification for their police officers by entering into a written agreement with the commission. The tribal law enforcement agency and all of its officers must comply with the CJTC requirements for certifying police officers.

Summary of Bill: The CJTC gains two additional members for a total of sixteen commission members. One of the new appointees is a public member so that the CJTC now includes two public members. Of the public members, one must be from east of the Cascades and the other from west of the Cascades. At least one of the public members must be from an historically underrepresented community. The other new appointee is a specified representative from a federally-recognized tribe that has an active agreement with the CJTC for certifying tribal peace officers.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: The CJTC approved a resolution to add a new public member to the commission. As the legislative process continued, the house bill was changed to add two new members, one a public member and the other a representative from a federally-recognized tribe having an active contract with the CJTC to certify its tribal police. Adding another member increases our ability to have more community input regarding the work of the CJTC and to form stronger ties with our communities. As between the Senate version of this bill adding one additional member and the House version adding one public member and one representative from a tribe, the CJTC does not have a preference for the Senate bill compared to the House bill.