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2023 - COFW Legislative Priorities`CITY OF Federal Way Centered on Opportunity #1— Public Safety & Mental Health Reform • Restoring "Reasonable Suspicion" Standard for Police Vehicular Pursuits The amount of car thefts and the number of criminal suspects dangerously fleeing the police have increased dramatically since the evidentiary standard for police vehicular pursuits was increased far beyond the constitutional requirements of "reasonable suspicion" by the State Legislature in 2021. To restore the prior level of community safety throughout the state, the City of Federal Way supports a return to "reasonable suspicion" (from the current "probable cause") as the standard for police vehicular pursuits, at least for violent offenses, sex offenses, escape offenses and automobile theft. • Restoring the Role of The Courts in Enforcing Drug Possession Laws In the wake of the Blake decision (which invalidated the State's existing prohibition on possession of illegal drugs for lack of an element of intent), the State Legislature passed SB 5476 in 2021, a stop -gap measure that will expire in the summer of 2023. Failure to adopt further legislation in 2023 would result in the decriminalization of the possession of every type of drug in our State. SB 5476 lowered the offense level for most drug possession offenses from a Class C felony down to a misdemeanor, though the provisions of SB 5476 mandating two unstructured referrals by law enforcement prior to any engagement with the court systems have made it much more unlikely that individuals will ever be prosecuted for the possession of illegal drugs. The failure to implement diversion programs through the court system all but guarantees that individuals caught possessing illegal drugs will not be placed into a structured rehabilitation program which includes any element of accountability for making progress toward becoming clean and sober. Another flaw with the failure to utilize the court system is the lack of record -keeping. There is no ability for law enforcement in one jurisdiction to know if an individual has already used up their mandatory two referrals in other jurisdictions. To address the flaws of SB 5476, the City of Federal Way supports removing the current requirement for two unstructured referrals by law enforcement and instead restoring the role of the courts in the referral of individuals to diversion programs in order to ensure structure and accountability, and also to allow for proper record -keeping of each individual's history of interaction with the legal system. The penalty for possession of illegal drugs should be a gross misdemeanor, which is a compromise between the previous Class C felony and the current simple misdemeanor, and courts should have the discretion to refer an individual to diversion programs, but not a requirement to do so. The City of Federal Way also supports the efforts of the court system, law enforcement, and jails in seeking state resources to provide regional coordinated intervention for behavioral health issues that participants in the criminal justice system are confronted with. • Behavioral, Mental Health, & Addiction Recovery Resources Supports creating greater access to behavioral and mental health services and establishing funding to support communities' efforts in establishing response programs like designated peer professionals and crisis responders who work alongside law enforcement, the courts, and jails. People experiencing mental and behavioral health challenges continues to increase and the mental health system struggles to respond. Oftentimes it is police officers who are solely responding to people suffering mental health issues. In addition, the lack of coordinated behavioral health intervention and adequate state resources contributes to the seemingly endless cycle people experience in the criminal justice system. #2 — Maintain Local Control of Zoning • Maintain the Abilitv of Local Government to Plan for Growth (Over) Several recent legislative proposals in Olympia would mandate highly prescriptive land use regulations on local governments. Blanket mandates -- whether for duplexes, ADU's or other types of housing --fail to recognize that the suitability of higher density development can vary within a city depending upon the unique characteristics of individual neighborhoods and also undermine the principle of local control. The City of Federal Way has not sought to limit growth generally or the construction of new and affordable housing, but has invested considerable time and effort, through deliberate processes that involve extensive public participation, to plan for smart growth. Instead of proposing to mandate zoning standards from Olympia, the state should look to provide incentives to cities which would promote higher densities and leave local zoning decisions with city elected officials. • Condominium liabilitv and housine affordabil Supports condominium liability reform aimed at lowering regulatory barriers associated with building affordable condos and improve the climate for condominium construction statewide to support home ownership. Changes are needed to create more certainty for developers and insurers and remove disincentives to building affordable condominium projects while maintaining consumer protections. The City of Federal Way would also welcome other proactive approaches to create new tools/incentives/revenues for cities to use to support increasing housing supply and addressing housing affordability. #3 -- Capital & Transportation Asks • Turf Ball Fields at Celebrations Park ($1.8 Million) The City of Federal Way has already compiled $1.2 million for this project. The additional funding will support the resurfacing of two turf fields. • City Center Access ($50 Million) The City Center Access project improves access from Federal Way's City Center to and across 1-5. Additionally, it improves intermodal and multi -modal access by modifying the existing over -utilized S 320th Street interchange in order to better accommodate concentrated urban growth and provide multi -modal connections with transit agencies. • Improvements to the SW 336th-SW340th Corridor ($20 Million) Construct the SW 336th St to SW 340th St corridor, including a roundabout at SW 340th Street and Hoyt Road SW. With traffic from the City of Tacoma's Brown's Point area and the City of Federal Way, this area has seen an increased level of congestion. Traffic is projected to continue to increase, and with the anticipated Sound Transit South Federal Way station improved connections between Tacoma and Federal Way are needed. • Increase Circulation and Traffic Capacity in Downtown Federal Way ($5 Million) The City of Federal Way has limited connections from the downtown area to the regional transportation network, with limited ways to disperse traffic. To partially address this, this circulation improvement project includes: Reconstruction of S 314th St between Pete von Reichbauer Way S and 23rd Ave S, (all but 25% of this section of roadway is a private street in a failing condition); extending sidewalks on S 312th Street from Steel Lake Park going east to 28th and; and construction of frontage improvements and a safe walking route for students between 312th and Truman High School. • WSDOT Triangle Project Currently the triangle project includes construction of the southbound off ramp to 161, and replacement of the northbound to eastbound ramp if funds allow. The City supports funding the project to allow full construction.