OLYMPIA, Wash. — A bill proposed in the latest legislative session that would increase standards for police chiefs and sheriffs has passed the Washington Senate and now the House.
SB 5974 would increase the minimum age to hold office from 18 to 25, require a background check for candidates of an office, increase the minimum time a sheriff candidate has been in law enforcement from two years to five years, and reduce the timeframe a non-certified sheriff has to get law enforcement certification from 12 months to 9 months after an election is certified.
It also paves the way to allow the state’s Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) to remove an elected sheriff from office if their peace certification is revoked.
One of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Jon Lovick, was the former sheriff of Snohomish County. He created the bill with the intent of “modernizing and strengthening laws concerning sheriffs, police chiefs, town marshals, law enforcement agency volunteers, youth cadets, specially commissioned officers, and police matrons,” according to the state legislature website.
However, sheriffs of dozens of Washington counties have expressed their disapproval of the bill, saying that the removal aspect diminishes the will of the voters.
The removal piece of the bill would lay out in state law that if a sheriff, police chief, or marshal did not enforce state, local, or federal laws as interpreted by the relevant Supreme Court, they would be decertified by the CJTC, thus removed from office.
As it stands now, an election, whether standard or recall, is the only way to oust a sitting sheriff.
Currently, King County is the only county that appoints sheriff’s instead of elects them.
On Thursday, the bill passed the House with 54 yeas, 42 nays and 2 votes excused. The bill was passed with minor amendments, according to the state’s legislative website.
It was passed by the Senate on Feb. 12.
It now needs to be approved by the Legislature before going to the Governor’s desk.
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