OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington state Senate has unanimously approved revisions to Initiative 940, the measure voters passed last November to make it easier to prosecute police officers for negligent shootings.
The bill passed Wednesday alters language about when officers can be held liable for using deadly force. While I-940 would have required officers to show that they believed they were acting in good faith when they used deadly force, the new language imposes an objective test: whether another officer acting reasonably in the same circumstances would have believed deadly force was necessary.
The House of Representatives unanimously passed the measure last week.
A two-thirds majority was required to amend the initiative so soon after voters passed it, but the initiative's supporters with De-escalate Washington and police groups alike supported the new language.
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