OLYMPIA, WA – The Washington State House of Representatives passed revamped legislation Tuesday aimed at improving public safety funding by allowing cities and towns to establish a new 0.1% sales tax without voter approval. It’s part of a plan to provide $100 million in grants to local police departments to hire more officers.
Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2015 would also create a Law Enforcement Grant Program to be administered by the Criminal Justice Training Commission, as well as a Supplemental Criminal Justice Account to disburse appropriated funds to qualified cities.
The Evergreen State ranks last in the country in police staffing per capita.
Per the bill, local sales tax revenue could also be used to fund public defenders, domestic violence services, and programs to help connect former prisoners with jobs.
During Tuesday’s floor debate, Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, offered an amendment to exempt smaller cities from the tax.
“What this amendment says is that cities of a population 200,000 or less do not have to impose this tenth of a percent tax in order to qualify for the grants,” he explained. “The reason why I’m asking that these folks be exempted out of this requirement is because the smaller a municipality gets, the less money they will actually be able to collect from a tenth of a percent sales tax.”
Orcutt went on to say, “They won’t raise enough money to really do anything or make a difference in improving public safety.”
Rep. April Berg, D-Mill Creek, spoke out against the amendment.
“I’ve heard from small communities, as well as large communities who really want to make further investments in public safety,” she said. “They would like the ability to have tools no matter what size the city is. This is about communities supporting themselves in an effort to have more patrols, more public safety. Every dollar counts, no matter how big or how small.”
Rep. Josh Penner, R-Orting, argued most cities won’t bring in much revenue with the tax.
“Most cities will bring in less than $75,000 with this tax,” he said. “Most cities have less than 10,000 residents and most cities have very little commercial spending within the city. I don’t think anybody is looking at $75,000 and saying that’s going to get [them] another police officer.
The amendment was not adopted.
Rep. Gloria Mendoza, R-Grandview, spoke in favor of another amendment to exempt smaller communities.
“I was the mayor of the city of Grandview for five years, and I can tell you that cities do not want to pay for law enforcement,” she said.
Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, also spoke in favor of the amendment.
“Not everybody that supports the police wants to be held hostage with a tax increase to feel safe in their community,” he said. “If we did accept these taxes, we’re basically not getting enough to hire one cop.”
Once again, the amendment failed.
House lawmakers did remove a requirement in the bill that local governments implement the new sales tax to qualify for a share of the $100 million in grants. Instead, cities and counties can access the money if they have already imposed either of two existing public safety sales taxes.
Lawmakers also decided governments can’t impose the new 0.1% sales tax if voters have rejected a similar tax proposal in the past two years.
Ahead of final passage, sponsor Rep. Debra Entenman, D-Covington, urged support for the bill.
“We have money to pay for [an] increased number of law enforcement officers and an increased number of support services and the criminal legal system in our community, and an opportunity for us to work toward community policing, and I believe a Washington state that will be safer,” she said.
The final vote was 54 to 42 in support of the bill, with five Democrats joining all Republicans in voting “no.”
