Committee hears agency-request bill to expand Office of Independent Investigations' reach

The Law and Justice Committee heard staff and agency testimony on ESHB 2508 on Feb. 23. Maya Ita, staff counsel, described the bill's principal changes: expanding the Office of Independent Investigations' jurisdiction to include prior incidents involving deadly force regardless of when they occurred; allowing the OII to investigate non-deadly-force incidents when there is good reason to believe the force may have caused or contributed to a death; clarifying the authority and limitations of independent investigative teams; requiring access to reports in the custody of fire and ambulance services (with healthcare-information limits); and exempting certain records from public inspection under the Public Records Act.

Representative Deborah Entenmann, the bill’s prime sponsor, said the legislation strengthens OII operations without turning investigations into fishing expeditions: "It is not a fishing trip where we can just go and look for anything. If there is new information in the use of deadly force, then they can look at that particular case," she said, adding the bill is intended to move police accountability forward.

Annette Taylor, legislative director of the OII, and Jessica Berliner, the agency's senior legal and policy advisor, testified in support and explained operational details: Taylor highlighted adding fire, rescue and EMS to the list of responding agencies that must provide records, and Berliner explained that agencies are required to notify OII when they have "good reason" to believe force may have caused a death and clarified the agency's criminal-investigations role and public-record exemption policy for review activities.

Senators pressed staff on how far back OII could investigate; staff confirmed the bill removes a 07/01/2022 cutoff so prior incidents may be investigated if covered by the bill's language. An updated fiscal note had been requested and was not yet available during the hearing. The committee closed public testimony and moved the bill into further consideration.