WCPA Commends Washington State Legislature for Passing Key Police Accountability Legislation
3/11/2026, Olympia, WA—The Washington Coalition for Police Accountability (WCPA), an organization led by families who’ve lost loved ones to police violence, today announced that the Washington State Legislature has passed the most bills on police accountability for the first time since the 2021 “George Floyd/Manny Ellis” legislative session.
For the first time in five years, WCPA has been successful in working with partners and lawmakers to pass key legislation on police accountability, including a bill clarifying eligibility requirements and certification standards for sheriffs and marshalls (SB5974), a bill prohibiting law enforcement from covering their faces while performing duties (SB5855), granting authority to the state attorney general to perform investigations of agencies where there is an alleged pattern and practice of violating the civil and constitutional rights (SB5925), and regulating the use of surveillance technology such as automated license plate readers (SB6002). The legislature did not pass a particularly harmful bill, which would have rolled back certain accountability reforms the legislature made to the Criminal Justice Training Commission a few years ago (HB2220).
Debbie Novak, Eastern Washington Regional Lead for WCPA and mother of David Novak, who was killed by Spokane police in 2019, said, “Knowing that this legislature was willing to pass all of WCPA’s priority bills makes me incredibly hopeful for the future of police accountability in our state of Washington.”
Sonia Joseph, Board Chair and mother of Giovann Joseph-McDade, said, “This is a bright spot during a season of increased federal law enforcement presence and misconduct. It is also a testament to our coalition’s unflagging determination to make change—we have been working on making many of these policy changes a reality for nearly five years.”
Paul Benz, lobbyist for WCPA, spoke on concessions that were made for two of the bills, saying, “Though WCPA was greatly disappointed by three law enforcement related RCW's that were deleted from Attorney General Investigations bill in the senate, it is still supportive of the civil investigative demand (CID) legal tool that this bill gives to the Attorney General’s Office for civil rights violations in many areas, including law enforcement. WCPA was also disappointed with democratic leadership in both chambers regarding increasing the length of time that data can be retained in the Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) bill from three to twenty-one days.”
The Facial Covering Prohibition was a great success for police accountability and for immigrants in our state. This new law will prohibit facial masking by any law enforcement officer working in our state, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
WCPA believes the bill that will do the most regarding accountability and transparency in our state's law enforcement system is the Law Enforcement Leaders bill. 2SSB 5974 modernizes the eligibility standards for chiefs, marshals, and sheriffs, aligns standards for these law enforcement leaders, and requires these leaders to maintain their eligibility the same way that current line officers already must do, It also addresses the use of volunteers by law enforcement agencies and lays out requirements as well as restricts their use for law enforcement activities. WCPA calls upon the Governor to sign SB 5974 in full and not veto any portion of the bill, ensuring the strengthened eligibility and certification standards adopted by the legislature are implemented as intended.
WCPA would particularly like to thank two of our trusted partners for their work this session: ACLU-WA on the ALPR bill and the AGR (Alliance for Gun Responsibility) on the Law Enforcement Leaders bill. The Washington Coalition for Police Accountability includes over 40 organizations that worked toward the passage of these bills.
