(The Center Square) – There was standing room only on Monday at the Washington State Legislature for a public hearing before the House Committee on Community Safety regarding a bill that would dramatically change eligibility standards for elected sheriffs.
The contentious legislation also looks to give the state a path to remove elected sheriffs from office if they don’t meet new requirements.
Democrats say Senate Bill 5974 is a necessary measure to hold sheriffs accountable and help build public confidence in policing.
Opponents say SB 5974 takes the power of firing a sheriff away from the public.
Currently, 38 of Washington’s 39 counties elect a sheriff. Only King County has an appointed sheriff.
During the first week of the session, the legislation received a public hearing in which Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank stated that if legislators tried to remove him, “thousands of Pierce County residents will surround the county city building.”
The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs condemned the comments as inflammatory and challenging to their authority, initiating an internal review for potential expulsion.
Swank was not dissuaded and showed up in Olympia Monday to testify against the bill once again.
Ahead of the hearing, about 50 people gathered on the steps of the legislative building in opposition to the bill, in a rally organized by the Committee to Elect Rick Kuss for Sheriff in Kitsap County.
“They keep slowly hacking away at our personal rights,” said one rallygoer.
“They keep taking our personal freedoms away more and more and more,” said another man at the rally.
“If we lose our sheriff, we’re sunk,” a woman said.
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.
SB 5974 aims to modernize law enforcement leadership by requiring that candidates for sheriff have at least five years of “uninterrupted, full-time law enforcement employment,” along with obtaining specific state certification.
“It makes no sense, and voters should be able to determine who becomes their sheriff," Kuss told The Center Square.
More than 70 people signed up to testify on both sides of the debate but had to wait until the very end of the hearing as Committee Chair Roger Goodman pushed discussion on the controversial bill as the final agenda item.
Groups testifying in support of the bill included the League of Women Voters, Faith Action Network, Alliance for Gun Responsibility and Northwest Progressive Institute.
Walla Walla County Sheriff Mark Crider spoke in opposition to the bill.
“Certification is not an issue. We have a process for redress for sheriffs that abuse their power … that’s the recall process,” said Crider, who then spoke about the legislation's language no longer allowing volunteer police groups.
“The only county in the state of Washington that uses any armed volunteers is Klickitat County,” he said. “If they didn’t have volunteers they wouldn’t have any security."
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels also spoke against the bill.
“This bill allows the Criminal Justice Training Commission to vacate an elected sheriff. Removal of an elected official must remain in the hands of the people,” Nowels said. “We should not leave this in the hands of an unelected board of people… that is something that should be reserved for the people that put them in office.”
Sheriff Daniel Garcia of Pacific County also testified against SB 5974. The original bill upon passage in the Senate would have led to his immediate decertification.
Goodman offered an amendment, which was accepted by the committee that any current sitting sheriff would not be subjected to the five-year law enforcement rule; however, any future sheriff candidate would have to meet that benchmark.
“I am an inconvenient truth for this bill. I was not a cop when I was elected to this job,” said Garcia, who told lawmakers he was a senior chief in the U.S. Navy who only ran for sheriff at the urging of supporters. “To get elected is not an easy thing. Putting yourself out there is quite difficult. To convince people that you have the necessary qualifications for the job is not easy. I pray every day to forgive you.”
More than 14,000 people signed in on both sides of the bill.
“More than 60 people who signed up to testify are not going to get the opportunity,” said Goodman as the hearing drew to a close just after 3:30 pm.
The bill is set for executive session in the same committee on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
