Sen. Ann Rivers' Legislative Update - Post-session wrap-up

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

A month ago my fellow legislators and I reached a bipartisan budget update that didn't raise taxes and was in line with our state's unique 4-year balanced-budget law.

Apparently this common-sense budget agreement wasn't good enough for the governor and he chose to veto sections of the budget, throwing it off balance.

As a member of the governor's task force on education funding, I know firsthand how these kind of irresponsible budget decisions will hamstring the Legislature's ability to address education funding during the 2017 session.

I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not; just disappointed that the governor continues to try and set the stage for tax increases.

Communities, law enforcement safer thanks to new legislation

During the 2016 legislative session I teamed up with my neighbor, Clark County detective Jason Granneman, on a public-safety bill that will be a game changer for law enforcement.

A few years ago I met with Jason and he explained to me that as a law-enforcement officer he came into daily contact with individuals who were serving the remainder of their sentences in the community, instead of behind bars. These folks are under the sole supervision of the state Department of Corrections and are referred to as “DOC active.”

State law kept law enforcement officers from detaining, searching or arresting DOC-active persons. It didn't matter if they violated the signed agreement setting the terms of their community release. Even alerting DOC that someone under its supervision wasn’t upholding his or her signed accountability agreement resulted in limited action.

This hands-off approach to DOC-active persons was creating not only a public-safety hazard, but also putting law-enforcement officers at greater risk. It was time for Jason and me to work together on a solution and a strategy for securing legislative approval.

I brought Jason, key lawmakers and representatives of DOC and the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs together to develop a solution acceptable to all sides.

The end result was Senate Bill 6459, which passed with overwhelming legislative approval in early March. 

The new law allows a law-enforcement officer to notify DOC when persons under community-corrections supervision violate the terms of their release. Additionally, law enforcement is now permitted to detain, search and make arrests on new crimes committed by a DOC-active individual.

I was pleased to sponsor this no-brainer bill that will hold DOC-active folks accountable and will make communities across Washington safer.