wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2015 > Engrossed Substitute

HB 2015 - Public safety funding

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Section 1

  1. The supplemental criminal justice account is created in the state treasury.

  2. At the beginning of each quarter, the state treasurer must distribute the funds appropriated to the account to qualified cities and counties based on the following per capita formula:

    1. The amount appropriated into the account in the biennial budget for the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium divided by six;

    2. The amount in (a) of this subsection divided by the total population of all qualified cities and counties for the quarter combined; and

    3. The per person amount calculated in (b) of this subsection by the population of each qualified city or county.

  3. For the purposes of this section, "qualified city or county" means a city or county that is approved for a grant in section 2 of this act. The criminal justice training commission must transmit a list of cities and counties approved for grants to the state treasurer at least four weeks before the end of a quarter.

Section 2

  1. Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the commission shall develop and implement a local law enforcement grant program for the purpose of providing direct support to local and tribal law enforcement agencies in hiring, retaining, and training law enforcement officers to increase community policing and public safety. Under this section, the commission shall:

    1. Establish procedures and policies for submitting the grant applications and publish them on the commission's website;

    2. Publish the criteria for evaluating and selecting grant recipients described in subsection (2) of this section on the commission's website;

    3. Create a grant application form that local and tribal law enforcement agencies must use to apply for grant funding; and

    4. Require reports from grant recipients that must include, but is not limited to, how the funding impacts retention rates and improved vacancy rates, and the percent of officer compliance with the commission's 40-hour crisis intervention team training and trauma-informed training approved by the commission.

  2. The grants under the local law enforcement grant program must be awarded to local and tribal law enforcement agencies based on their submittals to the commission. To qualify for a grant pursuant to this section, a law enforcement agency must have:

    1. Issued and implemented policies and practices consistent with RCW 43.17.425 and 10.93.160, and the office of the attorney general's keep Washington working act guide, model policies, and training recommendations for state and local law enforcement agencies;

    2. Participated in commission training as required by RCW 43.101.455 and 36.28A.445;

    3. Issued and implemented procedures and policies regarding use of force and de-escalation tactics consistent with RCW 10.120.030 and the office of the attorney general's model policies, and all other commission and attorney general model policies for law enforcement including, but not limited to, duty to intervene and canine;

    4. Implemented use of force data collection and reporting consistent with chapters 10.118 and 10.120 RCW;

    5. Issued and implemented policies and practices consistent with chapters 7.105, 9.41, and 10.99 RCW and the commission model policies and training addressing firearm relinquishment pursuant to court orders and domestic violence 911 response;

    6. A 25 percent officer compliance rate with the commission's 40-hour crisis intervention team training;

    7. A 100 percent officer compliance rate for those officers required to complete trauma-informed, gender-based violence interviewing, investigation, response, and case review training developed or approved by the commission pursuant to RCW 43.101.272, 43.101.278, and 43.101.428, and if requested by the commission, participated in agency case reviews;

    8. Adopted a flexible work policy pursuant to chapter 49.28 RCW;

      1. Disclosed the number of vacancies at the applying agency as of the time of application; and

    9. Primary funding from a jurisdiction that has authorized the imposition of the sales and use tax pursuant to RCW 82.14.340 or 82.14.450, or authorized in section 3 of this act before the awarding of the grant.

  3. Grant funding awarded to local and tribal law enforcement agencies may only be used for the purposes of:

    1. Recruiting and funding new law enforcement officers from the community in which the officer will be working;

    2. Funding use of force, de-escalation, crisis intervention, and trauma-informed trainings for newly hired officers to remain in compliance with the commission's required trainings; and

    3. Funding broader law enforcement and public safety efforts including, but not limited to, emergency management planning, environmental hazard mitigations, security personnel, community outreach and assistance programs, and mental health crisis response.

  4. If the commission receives and sustains a report that the law enforcement agency is no longer abiding by or implementing the policies required to receive the grant established in this section, the law enforcement agency must repay any moneys received pursuant to this section.

Section 3

  1. By December 31, 2027, the legislative authority of a qualified city or county may fix and impose a sales and use tax in accordance with the terms of this chapter. A qualified city or county is a city or county where the voters have not repealed by referendum a tax imposed pursuant to RCW 82.14.340 or rejected a ballot proposition to impose a tax pursuant to RCW 82.14.450 in the previous two calendar years. The tax authorized in this section is in addition to any other taxes authorized by law and must be collected from those persons who are taxable by the state pursuant to chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW upon the occurrence of any taxable event within such county.

  2. The rate of tax equals 0.1 percent of the selling price, in the case of a sales tax, or value of the article used, in the case of a use tax. The tax may only be imposed and collected if the city or county receives a grant pursuant to section 2 of this act.

  3. Moneys received from the tax imposed under this section must be expended for criminal justice purposes.

  4. For purposes of this section, "criminal justice purposes" means activities that substantially assist the criminal justice system, which may include circumstances where ancillary benefit to the civil justice system occurs, and which includes:

    1. Domestic violence services, such as those provided by domestic violence programs, community advocates, and legal advocates, as those terms are defined in RCW 70.123.020;

    2. Staffing adequate public defenders to provide appropriate defense for individuals;

    3. Diversion programs;

    4. Reentry work for inmates;

    5. Local government programs that have a reasonable relationship to reducing the numbers of people interacting with the criminal justice system including, but not limited to, reducing homelessness or improving behavioral health; and

    6. Community placements for juvenile offenders.

Section 4

If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not provided by June 30, 2025, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and void.

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