In the News

The body that licenses police officers in Washington state has decided to apply a new police accountability law to past misconduct, instead of only to officer misconduct that occurred after the law took effect last July. The vote by the state Criminal Justice Training Commission resolves a dispute between lawmakers and the commission about how far back officers can be held ...

The city of Woodinville recently secured $5 million in state funding to begin designing and constructing the SR 202 Capacity and Safety Improvement Project. “The trestle funding was successful due to years of work from staff, current and former council members, our lobbyist and the wonderful advocacy of the 45th delegation—especially Senator [Manka] Dhingra,” said Diana Hart, intergovernmental affairs coordinator for ...

Sen. Manka Dhingra has called for a joint session to address the practice, which splits up families and costs taxpayers millions. As schools in Washington continue to ship students with disabilities to other communities, state lawmakers say they plan to find a way to keep kids closer to home. Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, the state Senate deputy majority leader, says that after ...

OLYMPIA - Wash. House and Senate Republicans are expressing frustration with a growing partisan legislature, which they say they witnessed during the recent state legislative session. Washington is a Democrat-majority state with Republicans often have a hard time standing in the way of Democrat-sponsored legislation. Republican legislators are complaining that Democrats excluded them from controversial topics and did not provide significant ...

As soon as the governor signs off on it, Washington will set up a new alert system for missing and endangered Indigenous people. The alert system, which will be the first of its kind in the nation, will be similar to existing Amber alerts or silver alerts. When activated, information about missing Indigenous women and people will be visible on highway ...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (KOMO) — Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday signed into law what he calls improvements to police reform laws passed last year after hearing repeatedly from law enforcement agencies about what they said was confusion over what officers could and could not do in the wake of their passage.

When major police reforms were passed last ...

OLYMPIA – Carrying guns and other weapons could soon become prohibited in Washington at schools, local government meetings and election-related facilities. The state Senate passed a bill 28-20 on Tuesday that bans open carry and concealed carry in a number of different settings. It will head back to the House of Representatives, who will have to OK the changes made in the ...

The state legislature is considering a bill, sponsored by State Senator Manka Dhingra (D-Seattle), that would expand where courthouse facility dogs can go, helping traumatized witnesses who testify in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. If passed, the bill (SB 5127) would allow certified dogs to travel on public transportation to other public locations outside of the courthouse if they’re on ...

School closures, remote work, isolation. Inflation, wildfires, a heat wave. It’s all adding up: Washingtonians’ mental well-being has been profoundly disrupted since the pandemic landed here two years ago. And just when normalcy seemed near, omicron arrived. This legislative session, lawmakers are faced with tackling a mental health system fraying at its seams. The mental health workforce is leaving the profession in ...