State Senate approves revisions to Initiative 940

The bill alters language about when officers can be held liable for using deadly force.

  • By Wire Service
  • Wednesday, January 30, 2019 2:41pm
  • Northwest

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — The Washington state Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved revisions to Initiative 940, the measure voters passed last November to make it easier to prosecute police officers for negligent shootings.

The bill alters language about when officers can be held liable for using deadly force. While I-940 would have required officers to show that they believed they were acting in good faith when they used deadly force, the new language imposes an objective test: whether another officer acting reasonably in the same circumstances would have believed deadly force was necessary.

The House of Representatives unanimously passed the measure last week, and Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, has said he’ll sign it.

A two-thirds majority was required to amend the initiative so soon after voters passed it, but the initiative’s supporters with De-escalate Washington and police groups alike supported the new language.

Community activists had long tried to alter Washington’s law on prosecuting police, which previously required prosecutors to prove that officers acted with malice — a standard no other state required. When efforts in the Legislature failed, the activists proposed Initiative 940.

Fearing that the initiative would pass as written, police groups then joined the activists in difficult but constructive talks to come up with alternative language. Last year, in an unusual maneuver, the Legislature passed the initiative and simultaneously tried to amend it with a compromise version.

The state Supreme Court struck that down, finding the procedure unconstitutional, and the voters instead passed the original I-940 in November. But the police groups and activists agreed to honor the alternative they’d agreed to, and the Legislature passed it, crediting both sides for their efforts.

“There was considerable fear among (lawmakers) that that compromise would fall apart once the initiative was on the ballot,” Sen. Jamie Pedersen, a Seattle Democrat, said on the Senate floor. “I am so happy to stand before you … and report that those folks held to their word, that they came together, and that they brought back to us their compromise.”

The bill also tweaked a few other aspects of the initiative, altering the language concerning an officer’s duty to render first aid and requiring the state to reimburse an officer for legal fees if the officer is acquitted.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Northwest

Alaska Airlines aircraft sit in the airline's hangar at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. Boeing has acknowledged in a letter to Congress that it cannot find records for work done on a door panel that blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon two months ago. Ziad Ojakli, Boeing executive vice president and chief government lobbyist, wrote to Sen. Maria Cantwell on Friday, March 8 saying, “We have looked extensively and have not found any such documentation.” (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
FBI tells passengers on 737 flight they might be crime victims

Passengers received letters this week from a victim specialist from the federal agency’s Seattle office.

Skylar Meade (left) and Nicholas Umphenour.
Idaho prison gang member and accomplice caught after ambush

Pair may have killed 2 while on the run, police say. Three police officers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after the attack at a Boise hospital.

Barbara Peraza-Garcia holds her 2-year-old daughter, Frailys, while her partner Franklin Peraza sits on their bed in their 'micro apartment' in Seattle on Monday, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
Micro-apartments are back after nearly a century, as need for affordable housing soars

Boarding houses that rented single rooms to low-income, blue-collar or temporary workers were prevalent across the U.S. in the early 1900s.

Teen blamed for crash that kills woman, 3 children in Renton

Four people were hospitalized, including three with life-threatening injuries. The teenage driver said to be at fault is under guard at a hospital.

Whidbey cop accused of rape quits job after internal inquiry

The report was unsparing in its allegations against John Nieder, who is set to go to trial May 6 in Skagit County Superior Court on two counts of rape in the second degree.

LA man was child rape suspect who faked his death

Coroner’s probe reveals the Los Angeles maintenance man was a Bremerton rape suspect believed to have jumped off the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Logo for news use, for stories regarding Washington state government — Olympia, the Legislature and state agencies. No caption necessary. 20220331
Edmonds rep’s bill would try to stop police from lying in interrogations

Rep. Strom Peterson’s measure aims to make statements inadmissible if police use deceptive tactics to get those statements.

The exterior doors of Boeing's 737 assembly factory are shown closed Wednesday, March 27, 2019, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Boeing mechanics in Renton mis-installed piece that blew off plane, whistleblower says

A source says the fuselage panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines jet earlier this month was reinstalled improperly at the Boeing facility in Renton.

Yvonne Gallardo-Van Ornam, left, and Clyde Shaver
Arlington council member to run for state rep against Shavers

Yvonne Gallardo-Van Ornam called it a “little embarrassing” to have Oak Harbor Rep. Clyde Shavers “representing veterans.”

Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, at right, looks over at Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, ranking minority member of Senate Transportation Committee, at left, after participating in a panel during a legislative session preview in the Cherberg Building at the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024 in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Edmonds senator wants LGBTQ+ history taught in public schools

Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, is the bill’s prime sponsor and one of the Legislature’s LGBTQ+ members.

Logo for news use featuring Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington. 220118
Island County pays $2.75M to former Navy chief shot after standoff

A lawsuit alleged the Island County Sheriff’s Office was responsible for “state-created danger.”

West Beach Road was closed and residents were evacuated during the wind storm Tuesday. (John Fisken / Whidbey News Times)
Whidbey homes damaged, road closed, ferry rocked in wild wind storm

A wind storm toppled a tree onto a house, canceled ferry trips and prompted evacuations Tuesday.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.