FAMM is working in Washington state in 2022 to advance our Second Chances Agenda through meaningful Second Look Sentencing Reform as well as retroactive sentencing reform. Read more about the legislation we are supporting below.
Washington’s 2022 legislative session has ended. Check back soon to see what we’ll be working on next year.
2022 Legislative Priorities
HB 1413 would prohibit juvenile adjudications (felony convictions sustained through a juvenile justice court) from automatically increasing an individual’s sentencing range in the adult criminal justice system. In Washington, an individual’s sentence in adult courts is heavily influenced by an individual’s “offender score” which currently considers juvenile adjudications – a practice most states do not employ. This leads to adult sentences in Washington often being inflated by mistakes made by the individual when they were children. HB 1413 would eliminate this practice prospectively and provide people sentences prior to the enactment of this bill an opportunity for resentencing. Update: HB 1413 did not pass the Washington Legislature during the 2022 Legislative Session.
HB 1169 would improve sentencing in Washington by reforming existing mandatory sentence enhancements. The bill would retroactively and prospectively eliminate sentencing enhancements for drug offenses in a “protected zone” which currently adds 24 months to an individual’s sentence if they commit certain drug offenses in a protected zone: which includes the area within 1,000 feet of school grounds. The bill also prospectively and retroactively eliminates the sentencing enhancement for involving a person under the age of 18 in gang-related activity. Finally, the bill eliminates the requirement that multiple firearm or deadly weapon enhancements be served consecutively, a practice known as “stacking”. The bill includes a resentencing process for people serving stacked sentences that provides judges with the discretion to resentence an individual. Update: HB 1169 did not pass the Washington Legislature during the 2022 Legislative Session.
HB 1344, would greatly expand the Second Look Mechanism created by the legislature in 2014. Under that law, people given lengthy sentences for offenses committed before their 18th birthday can petition for review before the Indeterminate Review Board after serving 20 years for most offenses and 25 years for aggravated first degree murder. HB 1344 would expand this mechanism to include people given long sentences as emerging adults (after their 18th birthday but before their 25th birthday) and who have served at least 15 years for most offenses and 25 years for aggravated first degree murder. Update: HB 1344 did not pass the Washington Legislature during the 2022 Legislative Session.