Last year, Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin called on lawmakers in Olympia to change the state law on police killings. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said.
Last year, Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin called on lawmakers in Olympia to change the state law on police killings. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said. Ansel Herz

Down in Olympia, the Washington State Legislature has now held multiple hearings on two bills that aim to rewrite the state’s extreme law on police deadly force, which critics say gives police immunity from prosecution. Now, with both bills’ futures uncertain as they linger in committee, advocacy groups are urging people to reach out to their legislators.

In order to convict an officer for killing somebody under Washington’s current law, prosecutors must demonstrate that the cop acted “with malice and without a good faith belief.” It’s the most restrictive deadly force law in the country, according to a Seattle Times analysis. Only one officer has faced charges in the more than three decades since the law was passed.

That cop was acquitted.

“Basically, the law allows a police officer to shoot anyone anywhere, at any time, for any reason, if they feel afraid. And if they say they were afraid, then they were justified, because they weren’t acting [with] malice,” said Gabe Meyer, advocacy director for Not This Time, a group founded by Andre Taylor, whose brother Che was killed by Seattle police officers last year.

Washington State House Bill 1529 and its companion bill, Senate Bill 5073, would hopefully change that. Both bills would erase the current law’s “with malice” clause, among other initiatives.

An attempt to change the law fell apart after the committee stage in early 2016. That made Lisa Hayes, campaign manager for Washington for Good Policing, more determined to get people more involved.

“Everybody felt fairly optimistic in committee, and it didn’t make it through,” Hayes said. She added, “So even now, I feel good about how committee has gone, about how these hearings have gone. [But] every phone call and every email to those committee members, matters. A lot.”

Testimony about HB 1529 was heard recently by the House Public Safety Committee, which is chaired by Roger Goodman (D-45). Other members include Sherry Appleton (D-23), Mike Chapman (D-24), Dan Griffey (R-35), Dave Hayes (R-10), Jeff Holy (R-6), Tina Orwall (D-33), Mike Pellicciotti (D-30), Eric Pettigrew (D-37) and Luanne Van Werven (R-42).

“We got to stand with all the various families and all the various supporters of police reform and have our day to testify,” Meyer said of the hearing. “And of course we’ve been lobbying behind the scenes extensively, but there was a lot of unity in that House committee about what should be done because they were reviewing exactly what the task force recommended, which is what we all agreed upon.”

That “task force” is the Joint Legislative Task Force on the Use of Deadly Force in Community Policing, which recommended removing both the “malice” and the “good faith” clauses from Washington’s deadly force law. HB 1529, as it’s currently written, does just that. However, SB 5073 was amended before the Senate Law & Justice Committee heard testimony about it. Now, the bill keeps the “good faith” language and instead tries to provide what supporters say is a more objective definition of what “good faith” looks like. Not This Time does not support that change at this point, Meyer said, while Hayes said that it may make sense.

“We know we’re going to have to compromise also. This language allows for a range of charging options that wouldn’t be available otherwise,” Hayes said. Judging from the testimony in the hearings, Hayes believes that the various groups might be moving towards that compromise.

“We’re seeing some what I would call ‘soft movement’ on the part of some of the policing organizations, in that it’s beginning to sound like some of them would be agreeable to dropping ‘malice’ and redefining ‘good faith,’ the good faith standard,” she explained. “Coming into the hearings, I don’t think we anticipated we would hear that… sort of willingness to compromise to find the right language here. And that’s not universal. I mean, certainly not all of the policing organizations are taking that stance. But we did hear it from some of them, so it was encouraging, actually.”

If you’re wondering who you should call on the House and Senate committee, the answer is easy: “Email or call all of them, because it’s not a large number of people,” Hayes advised. Members of the Senate Law & Justice Committee include Jeannie Darneille (D-27), David Frockt (D-46) and Jamie Pedersen (D-43)—who all sponsored SB 5073—as well as Jan Angel (R-26), Mike Padden (R-4), Steve O’Ban (R-28) and Lynda Wilson (R-17).

Reaching out to Goodman and Padden, as the respective chairs of the House and Senate committees, is especially crucial. Meyer also suggested that people contact Speaker of the House Frank Chopp (D-43), whose backing will be essential if and when HB 1529 moves past the committee stage.

All legislators’ phone numbers can be found on the Washington State Legislature website, while their emails are at the bottom of this article. But if you want to reach out to legislators, do it soon. Though it’s unclear when exactly HB 1529 and SB 5073 will be voted on, the bills must pass out of committee by February 17.

Meyer especially encourages people who have personal experience with police shootings to talk to their legislators, because he thinks those voices haven’t yet been heard.

“I do think what has been lost in the process in Olympia is the trauma in communities,” Meyer said in an interview before a recent hearing on SB 5073. “Most of the people who are killed are people of color, most of the people who are killed are poor and most of the families that we meet had no idea how hard it was to hold somebody accountable… In Olympia, they don’t really want to hear those stories as much as they want to talk policy. And that’s been a little hard.”

To make it easy, here's a list of the relevant lawmakers:

Representatives
Sherry Appleton (D-23): sherry.appleton@leg.wa.gov
Roger Goodman (D-45): roger.goodman@leg.wa.gov
Mike Chapman (D-24): mike.chapman@leg.wa.gov
Frank Chopp (D-43): frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov
Dan Griffey (R-35): dan.griffey@leg.wa.gov
Dave Hayes (R-10): dave.hayes@leg.wa.gov
Jeff Holy (R-6): jeff.holy@leg.wa.gov
Tina Orwall (D-33): tina.orwall@leg.wa.gov
Mike Pellicciotti (D-30): mike.pellicciotti@leg.wa.gov
Eric Pettigrew (D-37): eric.pettigrew@leg.wa.gov
Luanne Van Werven (R-42): luanne.vanwerven@leg.wa.gov

Senators
Jan Angel (R-26): jan.angel@leg.wa.gov
Jeannie Darneille (D-27): jeannie.darneille@leg.wa.gov
David Frockt (D-46): david.frockt@leg.wa.gov
Steve O’Ban (R-28): steve.oban@leg.wa.gov
Mike Padden (R-4): mike.padden@leg.wa.gov
Jamie Pedersen (D-43): jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov
Lynda Wilson (R-17): lynda.wilson@leg.wa.gov