Committee hears multiple bills to let cities/counties use sales-tax credits or local-option levies to recruit and retain law enforcement

A cluster of bills heard Feb. 21 addressed how cities and counties might raise ongoing, local revenue to recruit and retain commissioned law enforcement officers and to fund complementary criminal-justice services.

Representative Amy Walen presented House Bill 10 95, which would authorize a local-option 0.1% sales-and-use tax credited against the state rate. The measure phases in authority by population (smaller jurisdictions may impose the tax in later years) and requires at least 50% of revenues be used to attract and retain additional commissioned law enforcement officers, with the remainder available for criminal-justice purposes, including domestic-violence services, behavioral-health response and legal advocacy. The bill would not require voter approval; it is levied by councilmanic action.

Representative Hunter Abel offered House Bill 18 96, a related proposal that would authorize a 0.1% tax credited against the state rate with a requirement that revenues be used solely for employment of additional commissioned officers until a jurisdiction’s commissioned-officer rate reaches the national average, after which the funds could be used for broader criminal-justice purposes. The bill also directs the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) to add basic-law-enforcement classes (27–28 per fiscal year) and asks the Legislature to appropriate funding to CJTC for that training expansion.

Local leaders and law-enforcement organizations strongly supported the measures. James McMahon, policy director for the Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said Washington ranks last among states in officers per capita and urged sustained funding to reduce response times and improve services. Jeff Devier of the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs said communities need “stable funding source[s] to enable us to recruit, to hire, and to retain law enforcement officers.” Council members and city officials described local studies showing staffing shortfalls and the high cost of competitive hiring incentives; Ben Wick, a Spokane Valley city council member, told the committee a consultant recommended 30 additional officers for his city and that the municipality had already approved initial hires but still lacked capacity.

Cities, counties and associations said the proposals provide flexible, ongoing revenue. Candice Bach of the Association of Washington Cities and Brad Banks of the Association of Counties both supported the bills while noting distributional and equity issues: sales-tax-based revenues will benefit jurisdictions with larger retail bases more than small, rural communities, and property-tax caps make other local revenue options limited. Several witnesses urged attention to program design and to how the new funding would interact with local budgets and retirements.

Department of Revenue staff outlined large fiscal impacts if all eligible jurisdictions adopted a credit: DOR estimated a state revenue decrease of about $100 million in FY26 (partial year) and $250 million in FY27 (full year) under one scenario, with corresponding local revenue increases split between counties and cities. DOR also estimated administrative costs for programming and taxpayer assistance; CJTC said it would need additional appropriation to expand classes and estimated multi-million-dollar costs to deliver the added training.

Committee members asked implementation and anti-supplanting questions, including whether jurisdictions with already-funded but unfilled positions could use new revenue for recruitment and retention; staff said they would follow up with written clarifications. Committee action was not taken during the Feb. 21 hearing.