Restoring enforcement

OLYMPIA – Tuesday evening the state House Committee on Safety, Justice and Reentry voted to advance two important bills; Senate Bill 5352 concerning vehicular pursuits and Senate Bill 5536 concerning a fix to the Blake decision regarding the possession of controlled substances.

“We are conducting an executive session today on two of the most consequential bills in the entire legislative session,” said Committee Chair Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland) as he called the meeting to order.

The first bill, SB 5352, concerns vehicular pursuits. Current law allows police to pursue only in violent crimes such as homicide and rape. SB 5352 expands the list to add vehicular assault and domestic violence assaults, as well as restoring reasonable suspicion as the necessary criterion instead of probable cause.

SB 5352 was referred to the Senate Law and Justice Committee at the beginning of session but was relieved of further consideration by the committee and placed on second reading on March 8. It passed the Senate floor with 26 yeas and 23 nays.

In the House, it was referred to the Community Safety, Justice and Reentry Committee and was taken to a vote by the committee Tuesday without a public hearing.

When put to a vote, the committee passed SB 5352 by a vote of 7-2. The two votives against came from Reps. Darya Farivar (D-Seattle) and Jenny Graham (R-Spokane). Farivar voted nay do not pass while Graham voted nay without recommendation.

The bill has been referred to Rules 2 for review.

“While I certainly appreciate that this legislation has been narrowed from where it starts, I am still going to be a no today,” said Farivar, just before the vote took place. “And I think that is the right thing to do here. I continue to hear from my constituents and from advocates who have deep concern about moving forward this legislation. I’m really concerned about the lives that are currently being lost, that will be lost from this both subjects of pursuits, bystanders – there’s passengers and law enforcement as well that are losing their lives.”

Goodman also spoke before the vote and voiced his support for the bill.

“I believe it’s not an unreasonable proposal to limit police vehicle pursuits to the most serious crimes. Those crimes that don’t involve injury to a person can be solved in other manners, particularly with technology such as the adhesive GPS device and drones and so forth,” Goodman said.

The companion House Bill, HB 1363, had also passed the House Community Safety, Justice and Reentry Committee 8-1, and passed the Transportation Committee, but never made it out of the Rules Committee.

Senate Bill 5536 is supposed to be a fix for the Blake decision which decriminalized the possession of controlled or counterfeit substances. SB 5536 adds to the law that it is unlawful for any person to create or deliver a counterfeit substance, or knowingly possess a counterfeit substance. The bill also states that a violation is a gross misdemeanor and encourages the prosecutor to divert such cases for assessment, treatment or other services.

SB 5536 also passed the committee Tuesday by a vote of 6-3. The three against passing the bill, who all voted nay do not pass, were Reps. Farivar, Graham and Griffey. The bill has been referred to Appropriations.

Rep. Tarra Simmons (D-Bremerton) gave a personal speech before the vote, saying she has lived with substance use disorder her entire life through her own addiction as well as multiple members of her immediate family.

“I think it’s (expletive) that we have to sit here and stigmatize people like me again and not understand that there are multiple pathways to recovery,” said Simmons.

She said while she will vote for the bill, she felt it was a bill that still needs work. She also said she will continue to work on it through Appropriations and the floor.

“We’re going to have to make tweaks again next session and one day we will get to the place where we actually care for people and help them get into recovery and help them stay in recovery and stop the stigma,” Simmons said.

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.