(The Center Square) – A bill that would let an unelected state board effectively remove an elected sheriff from office in Washington state was passed by the House of Representatives in the wee hours of Friday.
For nearly eight hours, Republicans offered dozens of amendments, which were summarily rejected by majority party Democrats, ahead of final passage just before 1:30 a.m.
Four Democrats joined every Republican in opposing the bill on a final 54-42 vote.
Senate Bill 5974, sponsored by Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, now heads back to the Senate for concurrence, as the measure passed in the House was a striker bill, offered by Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, which made several changes to the version that passed the Senate.
The bill would raise the minimum age for sheriff candidates from 18 to 25, require at least five years of full-time law enforcement experience, and mandate background checks and certification from the Criminal Justice Training Commission. The commission could revoke certification for misconduct, leading to elected sheriffs being removed from office.
“This bill will build confidence and community trust between community and law enforcement, especially our law enforcement leaders,” Goodman said on the House floor Thursday evening. “Our law enforcement leaders should be subject to the same eligibility requirements, qualifications, and accountability measures as those who work for them, or maybe even greater, a higher bar.”
Opponents came out hard against the measure, arguing it strips voters of their right to elect a sheriff of their choice.
In a Friday morning interview with The Center Square, Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank said commission members would be able to disqualify him when he’s up for reelection.
“Every time you run, they’ll do a background on you. And pull up your social media that they don’t like, and things you’ve said, and then deem you unqualified. They could say that even if you have overwhelming support from the folks that put you into office,” Swank said. “They want to be able to remove people who don’t go along with a program, don’t go along with them.”
During floor speeches, Republicans referred to the bill as the “get rid of Keith Swank bill,” arguing Democrats were using legislation to remove a sheriff who has wide support from the majority of his constituents.
After Swank testified against the bill earlier this year, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs condemned his comments as inflammatory.
Swank said if legislators tried to remove him, “thousands of Pierce County residents will surround the county city building.”
During Friday’s interview with The Center Square, Swank didn’t back down from those comments, and said he has support from sheriffs across the state who have thanked him for pushing so hard against the bill.
One of the first casualties of the legislation, assuming Gov. Bob Ferguson signs it into law, could be Rick Kuss, who is running for sheriff in Kitsap County.
Kuss is a retired U.S. Navy officer who holds a master’s degree in criminal justice and has served as a deputy with the King County Sheriff’s Office since 2023.
Despite the combination of military leadership and active patrol experience, the bill’s strict uninterrupted employment timeline would disqualify him from appearing on the ballot.
In a Friday interview, Kuss told The Center Square he is undeterred.
“It is a disappointment, but it’s not like I didn’t see it coming because of the way this legislative session has been going,” he said. “I realized this is probably going to end up in a legal battle going up through the court system, so I anticipated that and nothing has stopped me from my current path forward and doing what I’m doing and continuing campaigning until the day they physically remove me from the ballot for this upcoming election.”
Kuss said he will join legal challenges against it, should it become law. But in the meantime, he remains focused on defeating the legislation.
“I’m not giving up,” he said. “And people need to realize that we need to start standing up for ourselves. What is the hill you’ll die on? What is something that you’ll fight with everything you have for? This is it. To me, it’s clear that this is what I will stand up and fight for.”
Sheriffs in Washington are elected in 38 of the state’s 39 counties.
Only King County has an appointed sheriff.
