(The Center Square) – Around 20 officers short, Spokane Valley needs more funding to expand its police force, but the city might have shot itself in the foot with its immigration policy.
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed House Bill 2015 on Monday, delivering on a day-one promise to put $100 million behind police recruiting during his first year in office. The law creates a .01% local sales tax that voters can approve in addition to two other existing public safety taxes.
If a municipality levies any of the three taxes, it opens the door to grant funding for new officers and other public safety personnel. However, one provision of HB 2015 requires local governments to adopt policies aligning with what many critics call Washington state’s “sanctuary” law.
“In my inaugural address, I made a promise,” Ferguson said on Monday, “that this legislative session, we must provide significant funding to hire more law enforcement officers in our state.”
Ferguson was attorney general when the state passed the Keep Washington Working Act, or KWWA. The statute prohibits law enforcement from using local resources to assist federal immigration authorities, which the Spokane Valley City Council wants to change.
Last month, the council passed a resolution declaring that the Valley is “not a sanctuary city.”
The officials approved a nearly identical resolution in 2016 before the state passed its sanctuary law. Deputy City Manager Erik Lamb said the new resolution complies with state and federal law, avoiding issues that the last one posed after the state adopted KWWA.
Still, both resolutions pledge support to federal authorities, including on immigration.
“The City Council pledges … to cooperate, assist, and work with Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies,” according to the resolution, “for law enforcement activities that support the public safety of Spokane Valley residents to the maximum extent available and allowable under the law, including enforcement of 8 U.S.C. 1325 and 8 U.S.C. 1326.”
Police Chief Dave Ellis supported the resolution but reaffirmed his commitment to state law. Attorney General Nick Brown sued the Adams County Sheriff’s Office after it assisted federal immigration authorities, so the Valley wants to avoid heading down the same path.
According to HB 2015, the state’s Criminal Justice Training Commission, or CJTC, must set the grant criteria and choose recipients. Communications Manager David Quinlan told The Center Square that any applicant must implement policies consistent with KWWA to qualify, but couldn’t confirm whether the Valley’s resolution would make it ineligible for the funding.
Quinlan said CJTC would assess compliance in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General. Whether the Valley qualifies depends on what the city submits in its application.
AGO Deputy Communications Director Mike Faulk told The Center Square that any consultation it provides to a client, like CJTC, would be attorney-client privileged, so he declined to comment.
“CJTC’s role will be to implement the program as directed by the legislation — we are not involved in interpreting legislative intent beyond what the bill requires or commenting on political resolutions,” Quinlan wrote in an email. “For specific questions about the intent or implications of HB 2015, I’d recommend reaching out to the bill sponsors.”
Rep. Debra Entenman, D-Kent, and Rep. Kristine Reeves, D-Federal Way, proposed HB 2015 in February but declined to comment on Tuesday after requests from The Center Square since May 1.
Communications Manager Jill Smith told The Center Square on April 30 that the Valley planned to discuss HB 2015 in an upcoming meeting but didn’t provide specifics. The city hadn’t scheduled the meeting yet, but she said it would only be a staff conversation without the council.
The Center Square asked Smith for an update before publishing, but she had no new information to share.
Whether the Valley qualifies — and what it’s willing to do for the funding — remains unclear.
