Davis proposes bills aimed at preventing crimes, holding offenders accountable

Rep. Lauren Davis

Washington State Rep. Lauren Davis, a 32nd District Democrat who represents parts of Lynnwood and Edmonds and all of Mountlake Terrace, said she is introducing a suite of reforms during this legislative session aimed at helping prevent crime and holding perpetrators accountable.

The Council on State Governments reported that Washington state had the second highest increase in violent crime in the nation from 2019-2022, with minimal decline since, Davis said in a news release. And in 2023, the state experienced 810 traffic fatalities—the highest since 1990 and nearly twice as many as a decade ago.

“Half of those traffic deaths were caused by an impaired driver, and the average drunk driver gets behind the wheel 80 times before their first arrest,” Davis said.

Davis is proposing three reforms:

– Hold people accountable for evading arrest or engaging in a vehicular pursuit.

– Provide meaningful supervision for individuals on community custody.

– Create a proactive legal mechanism to prevent impaired driving.

“These bills recognize that most crime is not actually random,” Davis said. “It’s the same individuals doing the same things. And if we can predict something, we can prevent it.”

Pre-trial release

House Bill 1252 deals with the pernicious problem of suspects who elude a police vehicle, engage law enforcement in foot pursuits, resist arrest, and/or require a resource-intensive, expensive effort — K9s, drones, air support — to apprehend them.

“This is a small group of individuals who have just demonstrated that they will not abide by the laws of this state or the commands of law enforcement,” Davis said. “In fact, they will recklessly endanger others, including bystanders and police officers, in order to avoid accountability. But then, these same people are released the next day on very low bail or on personal recognizance—their own promise to return to court. This is absurd.”

The bill would require judicial officers to document, in writing, their justification for releasing defendants on personal recognizance or low bail when that defendant attempted to evade arrest.

“My legislation creates a rebuttable presumption that this subset of defendants are at high risk of failing to appear at future court proceedings,” Davis said. “This, in turn, triggers the court rule that allows a judge to set bail.”

Meaningful supervision

House Bill 1668 relates to the approximately 14,000 individuals on Department of Corrections (DOC) community custody, primarily for violent crimes or sex offenses. Even if one of these individuals absconds from community custody for months or years, or commits a new felony, the maximum DOC sanction is 15 days in custody.

“My legislation allows a community corrections officer to request a sanction beyond 15 days,” she said, “when a person has willfully absconded for a long period or poses a substantial risk to public safety.”

This legislation:

– Forms intentional partnerships between DOC field offices and local law enforcement to apprehend individuals with DOC warrants.

– Increases sentence length for the crime of escape from community custody by increasing the seriousness level of the offense and the manner of calculating a defendant’s criminal history for this specific offense.

– Requires behavioral health agencies to update a person’s community corrections officer about their adherence to their treatment plan.

– Creates a tracking mechanism for missed polygraphs.

– Requires DOC to utilize more advanced electronic monitoring technology for supervised individuals, including having the capability for real time GPS monitoring, transdermal alcohol monitoring, steel-reinforced ankle bracelets, ankle bracelets with fiberoptic cables that provide tamper alerts and the supervised individual’s location to local law enforcement, and electronic monitoring with victim notification (Tiffany Hill Act) for domestic violence perpetrators.

Impaired driving

In 2023, 410 Washington state residents were killed by an impaired driver, while 396 were victims of homicide. Fatalities involving an impaired driver rose 80% from 2014 to 2023.

“We spend a lot of money and attention solving homicides, which is unequivocally the right thing to do,” Davis said. “With impaired driving deaths, we know exactly what causes them. Smart reforms here can save a lot of lives.”

Davis introduced House Bill 1426 to create a first-in-the-nation civil protection order for DUI prevention.

“This is modeled after our state’s Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO),” Davis said, “which is used to prevent an individual from accessing a firearm when a court determines that their behavior presents a risk to public safety. By a similar token, my legislation would prevent an individual from having unfettered access to a motor vehicle when a court determines that their driving behavior presents a risk to community safety.”

The bill allows a judge in civil court to order, on a preponderance of the evidence, similar conditions as in a DUI criminal case: an ignition interlock device, an alcohol monitoring bracelet, substance use treatment, recovery support meetings, or 24/7 sobriety monitoring.

“There is no question that crime and lawlessness in this state have escalated substantially,” Davis said. “The public knows this. My constituents feel this. We are the state Legislature and it is our obligation to respond. Apathy is unacceptable. These are not sweeping, ‘lock-em-up’ style reforms. These bills are targeted at a relatively small group of individuals who have demonstrated that they pose a substantial and ongoing threat to public safety. Intervention is not optional.”

  1. Lauren, the state of Washington and accordingly the judges are very lax when it comes to DUI cases. I hope your proposals have success. I for one definitely support your efforts. Thank you.

  2. This is a good start to getting crime back under control. I am a life long Edmonds resident 62 years . I hate to see how are elected government officials have let the criminals ruin are city and state with zero Consequence for there actions. We need to take are state back !

  3. The Democrat party has turned gang violence and massive property crime into the norm for the last 30 years in the name of Equity. The whole defund movement which they used to decimate our police departments was a disaster. Why do we re elect them to solve problems they cause? Party loyalty?

  4. Career criminals, habitual offenders are a few of the words to describe these people. Alcohol addiction will continue to upend people’s lives without repercussions like these being proposed. Too many lives taken.

  5. A good start in the right direction but with all the other soft on crime bills currently in the works I have my doubts in it passing, reduce penalties for people that use a gun in commission of a crime but onerous costs increases to legal gun owners plus criminals penalties. Our government is so backward I don’t know if it can be saved.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.

By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.