Lots of bills moving forward, and an important Seattle PBP meeting next week

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Today’s Seattle Council Briefing

Amy Sundberg
Happy Monday! Let’s see what’s happening at Seattle Council Briefing today, shall we?
CM González introduced a new amendment (Amendment 2) to the legislation regarding AAPI hate crimes, moving the $150k for funding a public safety coordinator for the ID from the SPD to the Department of Neighborhoods, where this position would be housed. The amended legislation passed this afternoon.
Tomorrow there will be a short Public Safety and Human Services committee meeting, as a few agenda items had to be postponed. It doesn’t look like anything earth-shaking is scheduled so I won’t be live-tweeting. CM Herbold mentioned the Seattle Times article on the problems with SPD officers and their off-duty work, but she didn’t have any new information to share. It’s important to remember the current SPOG contract limits changes to the off duty work policy for officers, so this is yet another issue that would need to be bargained. A key quote from the article:

Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, surveyed 162 police departments and found that 130 allowed some form of off-duty work. Of these, only 11.5% said they were required to do so by union contracts, according to a 2017 paper he authored.

Seattle’s city auditor, in its own survey, found that SPD “has very little control over off-duty police work compared to the other agencies we reviewed.”
Next week, on Tuesday, April 20th at 2pm, the Community Economic Development committee will hear from the Mayor’s office about their recent memo giving two different implementation options for Seattle’s participatory budgeting process. A few other cities will also be presenting on their experiences with participatory budgeting. If you’re at all interested in the PBP here in Seattle, this is a do-not-miss.

State Legislature News

We only have about two weeks left in this session! Several bills passed out of their current chamber: 1089 concerning compliance audits, 1267 and 1310 dealing with use of force, and 5066 regarding an officer’s duty to intervene. 5226, concerning driving with a suspended license, passed with an unfortunate amendment still attached. It will now go back to the Senate for concurrence (the two chambers have to reach agreement on the bill since it’s been changed significantly).
5476, Senator Dhingra’s bill precipitated by the Blake decision, was moved out of committee without recommendation to keep the process on track. This bill is deeply controversial, and the expectation is lawmakers will be working on this issue right up until the end of session.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Other Articles of Interest

Washington State Patrol sexual misconduct case tests oversight law as police reforms near passage | The Seattle Times

Washington State Patrol sexual misconduct case tests oversight law as police reforms near passage | The Seattle Times
The son-in-law of the Washington State Patrol chief resigned as a trooper after investigations into allegations of on-the-job sex and sexual assault. He is now fighting to keep his badge,…
www.seattletimes.com  •  Share
Minneapolis’ Little Earth neighborhood creates their own patrols after police retreat - The Washington Post

Minneapolis’ Little Earth neighborhood creates their own patrols after police retreat – The Washington Post
When the 3rd Precinct burned after George Floyd was killed, this Native American neighborhood in Minneapolis took public safety into its own hands.
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Maryland repeals police bill of rights, enacts historic accountability measures - The Washington Post

Maryland repeals police bill of rights, enacts historic accountability measures – The Washington Post
Democratic lawmakers override Hogan vetoes to create new officer discipline process, use-of-force policy.
www.washingtonpost.com  •  Share