Washington State legislature restores police pursuits, parental rights after citizen-backed initiatives

The legislature also passed citizen-backed Initiative 2111, which prohibits state and local income taxes, as well as Initiative 2081, which restores parental rights, including those to review educational materials and opt out of sexual education.

Following the unrest that rocked Seattle in 2020, the Democrat-controlled legislature approved restrictions that placed limits on pursuits, despite being cautioned that such restrictions would embolden criminals.

In the years since, police have spoken out frequently against the limits, claiming that they empowered criminals to evade law enforcement.

Following the passage of the original bill, suspects fleeing police spiked by the thousands, with one criminal even calling 911 to cite the legislation to tell police to stop pursuing him.

Incidents of stolen cars also spiked dramatically and were cited as a contributing factor in car insurance rates skyrocketing.

The legislation was also blamed for deaths, including 12-year-old Immaculee Goldade, who was walking home with a friend when a stolen truck hit the girls near Midland Elementary School. Immaculee died at the scene and the friend, Kathleen Olson, was severely injured.

Officers had previously not been able to pursue the suspect for another crime.

Last week, a prolific offender with multiple convictions was charged with crashing into another vehicle while driving a stolen truck, killing a 42-year-old father and putting his 5-year-old son in the hospital with multiple skull fractures that required surgery.

Similarly, officers had been unable to pursue the suspect for previous crimes.

After 2 years of lawlessness, Let’s Go Washington, a citizen action group, collected enough signatures to qualify Initiative 2113 and 5 other initiatives to roll back disastrous Democratic policies on the November ballot.

According to Washington state law, the initiatives were required to go before the legislature and the body could choose to act or send them directly to voters.

I-2113 allows police pursuits if an officer has “reasonable suspicion” that someone has broken the law and “poses a threat to the safety of others.”

Following hearings on three of the initiatives last week, the State Senate advanced them to the State House where all were approved by wide margins.

The legislature refused to hear the other three initiatives that would repeal the state’s carbon tax and a capital gains tax and allow citizens to opt out of a long-term care tax.

The approved initiatives will go into effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session.