After a series of disappointing floor votes, we now need to hold our state legislators, especially some Democrats, accountable for advancing legislation that roll back last year’s public safety improvements and put people of color in more danger of police violence. HB 2037 would allow police to use force when someone is fleeing a traffic stop, even if they are not under arrest; SB 5919 also expands police’s ability to use physical force.
ACTION 1: Sign in CON for HB 2037’s next committee hearing. You can do this with one click, and signing in does not mean you have to testify: https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Testifier/Add?chamber=Senate&mId=29877&aId=146759&caId=19736&tId=3&link_id=1&can_id=cf5e89e8061788770c65094abd6aa7a5
ACTION 2: If you can, please attend a virtual state legislative town hall to either hold accountable your representative who voted for HB 2037 or 5919 (rolling back police reform), or thank those who voted against.
Click the following link to see if your legislator has an upcoming town hall, and see how they voted on the two rollback bills: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tsCW4o6SVwL4ZCyXdU3GgVfzY1WDgLRZ/view?usp=sharing
Here are some talking points from the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, if you sign up to ask questions:
Sample Questions/Comments on HB 2037/SB 5919:
HB 2037 – 2,400 community members signed in against this bill, including 76 community organizations. The only support came from law enforcement and their mayors.
For Reps: Why did you support a bill that had such unified community opposition?
For Sen: Would you support a bill with such unified opposition? We urge you to vote No.
Data from across the state shows that BIPOC are much more likely to be stopped by police, and subjected to force by police. Racial justice orgs like NAACP, El Centro de la Raza, Pacific Islander Community Association , and seventy other organizations oppose HB 2037.
For Reps: Why did you support HB 2037 when it will likely bring more police violence to communities of color?
For Sen: Would you support a bill that will likely increase harm to communities of color? We urge you to vote no.
HB 2037 gives police impunity to use violent force when a person, regardless of their guilt or innocence, mental state, or previous negative experiences with law enforcement, flees from them. Fleeing doesn’t always mean guilt – young people and people of color flee because of fear and distrust of police. In WA, John T. Williams, Kevin Peterson Jr., Tommy Le, and many other people were killed when fleeing from police.
For Reps: Why did you support HB 2037, given the likely harm to young people, people of color, and people with developmental disabilities?
For Sen: Would you support a bill that will likely increase harm to young people, people of color, and people with developmental disabilities?
If you’re not able to attend a town hall, or the event passed, you can reach out to your legislators directly instead and let them know how you feel about these bills moving forward: https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
Background:
https://crosscut.com/politics/2022/02/new-wa-police-accountability-laws-likely-see-change
