Inslee calls WA Legislature special session to address drug possession

Washington lawmakers will get a second chance at hammering out a new, statewide approach to drug possession, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday.

Inslee is calling a special, 30-day session of the Legislature for May 16 so that lawmakers can try again to replace a stopgap measure that expires July 1, he said.

Lawmakers haven’t struck a deal yet, but state Senate and House leaders are working toward a resolution that can garner majority support, several said Tuesday.

The policy questions for the special session will be the same ones that lawmakers didn’t answer in their regular session, which ended last month: whether to maintain a criminal penalty for drug possession and, if so, at what level and with what alternatives to prosecution and incarceration.

The political questions will also be the same: How to get progressive and centrist Democrats to back the same proposal or cobble together a coalition between centrist Democrats and Republicans. Democrats are the majority in both chambers.

“My office and I have been meeting with legislators from all four caucuses and I am very optimistic about reaching an agreement that can pass both chambers,” Inslee said in a news release.

“Cities and counties are eager to see a statewide policy that balances accountability and treatment, and I believe we can produce a bipartisan bill that does just that,” Inslee continued. “Details are still being negotiated, but caucus leaders share the desire to pass a bill. I believe that starting the clock on May 16 will put us on a path to getting the job done this month.”

Senate Republican Leader John Braun sounded less upbeat.

“The governor had indicated he would not call a special session until legislative leaders reached an agreement that is worth bringing in front of each chamber,” Braun said in a news release. “To be clear, we’re not to that point yet, although there have been productive bipartisan discussions over the past week.”

“While I am hopeful for a better outcome this next time around, there is also reason to be cautious,” Braun added.

The special session is needed because lawmakers didn’t pass a new drug possession law during their 105-day regular session this year. The state House voted down a deal on April 23, the last day of the regular session, that would have, among other things, classified illicit drug possession as a gross misdemeanor. Some lawmakers called the proposal too lax and others called it too harsh.

If the Legislature doesn’t adopt a new measure before July 1, there will be no statewide law in effect after that, leaving each city and county to handle drug possession in its own way.

That could result in “a confusing patchwork of policies, treatment options and penalties,” Inslee’s office said Tuesday.

Washington’s soon-to-expire status quo classifies drug possession as a simple misdemeanor.

“There’s a lot of communication going on right now” between Democrats and Republicans, Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Seattle, said Tuesday, before Inslee’s announcement.

“We’re meeting virtually and connecting on calls. It’s pretty intense right now,” added Goodman, who chairs the House’s Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry Committee.

Though special sessions are 30 days, Inslee thinks lawmakers could wrap up their work in just a few days if they reach an agreement before the session starts, his office said.

Lawmakers are getting “very close” to resolving the matter, Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, said Monday night, also expressing hope that the special session could last only a day or two.

“We’ve been talking the entire time,“ since the regular session ended, said Dhingra, who chairs the Senate’s Law and Justice Committee. 

To make the special session official, Inslee needs to issue a proclamation; he hasn’t done that yet, his office said Tuesday.

Drug possession was a felony (punishable by up to five years in prison) until 2021, when the state Supreme Court struck down that law. In a case called State v. Blake, the court decided the law was unconstitutional because it included people who didn’t realize they were carrying drugs.

The ruling suddenly decriminalized drug possession statewide, igniting a debate in the Legislature about how to respond. Lawmakers ultimately passed a temporary measure in 2021 that classified intentional drug possession as a misdemeanor (up to 90 days in jail) and required police to refer people to services twice before jail. That’s the stopgap set to expire soon.

The 2021 approach has aggravated some police and city leaders, who have blamed the new rules for what they have described as an increase in drug use, crime and disorder. Meanwhile, advocates on the other end of the philosophical spectrum have urged lawmakers to eliminate penalties for drug possession rather than persist with a costly, ineffective, and inhumane “War on Drugs” waged against people with substance use disorders.

In the regular 2023 session, Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, sponsored a bill to restore drug possession’s classification as a felony, arguing the threat of prison would provide “the proper leverage” to compel people into treatment. Dhingra sponsored a bill to decriminalize drug possession while expanding treatment and services.

Neither proposal got traction, so the debate coalesced around a middle-road bill sponsored by Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett. The state Senate and House passed different versions of Senate Bill 5536, then struggled to reconcile those versions.

The potential compromise that House members rejected on April 23 — in a vote of 43-55 — would have classified drug possession and public drug use as gross misdemeanors (up to 364 days in jail) and barred cities from criminalizing drug paraphernalia.

The deal would have encouraged, but not required, police and prosecutors to divert people from jail and trial, allowed people to vacate convictions via treatment and services and appropriated $43 million for programs like 23-hour drug crisis relief centers, mobile treatment units, recovery residences and housing vouchers.

Republicans in the House called the bill too lenient and some Democrats called it too tough.

On Tuesday, Robinson described ongoing conversations among “all four caucuses” of the Legislature. She said she still hopes to see a bill gain bipartisan support.

The sticking points in the current discussions are “nothing new” since April 23, she said.

“The things we’re working through were raised as issues” last month, Robinson said. “We’re not starting from scratch.”

In his statement, Braun called on House Democrats to demonstrate “bipartisanship and leadership that was missing” during the regular session.

In a separate statement, House Republican Leader Drew Stokesbary said his caucus members “remain committed to passing statewide legislation that provides opportunities for those who are willing to undergo treatment and accountability for those who aren’t. However, we will not support a bill that falls short of either of these goals and simultaneously prevents local governments from enacting their own solutions.”

Goodman, the House Democrat, is encouraged that “we’re now communicating on paper, so there’s no goal posts being moved at the last minute and no miscommunication,” he said.

The challenge is to reconcile concerns about public drug use with concerns about harmful incarceration, Goodman added.

“Yes, public drug use has to be addressed. Yes, the ‘War on Drugs’ has been awful” to marginalized people, he said.

Staff reporter Jim Brunner contributed to this report.