A bill that would have formally decriminalized drugs in Washington state was scrapped on the Senate floor Thursday, with lawmakers approving a dramatically revised version that would instead impose criminal fines following a ruling by the state Supreme Court that lifted the ban.
The action provides a possible showdown with more progressive Democrats in the House of Representatives who have said they will not vote for legislation returning to a criminal war on drugs.
Washington has been without a drug possession law since a divided Supreme Court abruptly struck down in February after ruling that a close portion of the decades-old law was unconstitutional. Lawmakers have since struggled to address the ruling – which has brought drug arrests and prosecutions across the country to a halt and freed dozens of people locked up on drug possession charges – before the legislative session ends on April 25.
On the Senate floor Thursday night, a bill that would have originally criminalized drug possession was amended to instead make a felony, a crime punishable by up to a year in prison and a $ 5,000 fine – a change that led his main sponsor to vote against the measure.
Before the court decision, drug possession was classified as an offense.
Senators passed the amended version of the bill, SB 5476, by 28–20–1 votes. It then goes to the house, where it is scheduled for Monday for the first hearing in the Credit Committee, with possible committee action for Wednesday, April 21st.
Watch the senators discuss the drug laws, around 1:01:33 in the video below:
As amended, the Senate-approved bill represents a moderate reform of Washington’s now invalid law on crimes against property. It requires prosecutors to redirect charges to evaluation and treatment programs for the first and second time, allowing for further diversion with prosecutor approval.
“I think this striking change will help us continue as we continue with the body in the last ten days to get a response that will provide services and treatment and help for people struggling with drug use disorder,” Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D), who brought the amendment, said on the Senate floor.
The bill in its original form represented a major shift from the drug war. It would not have imposed fines for possession of small, “personal use” quantities of drugs, but rather led people to drug use disorder evaluation and treatment services.
Some senators who initially supported SB 5476 eventually changed their vote after the amendment was passed. The original sponsor of the bill, Senator Manka Dhingra (D), said she could no longer support the proposal.
“The way I do it, I’m glad there are opportunities for distraction, but it doesn’t have to be through the criminal justice system,” Dhingra said during the debate on the floor. “I understand this is my bill, I understand that my name is there, but I will vote no on this today.”
Many senators who considered the bill on Thursday said it was important for the legislature to approve something before the session ended, given the far-reaching impact of the Supreme Court ruling in February, States v. In a statement issued after the vote, Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig (D) said the failure of a state law on drug possession was a patchwork quilt of local ordinances that would be confusing to Washingtonians and not will not provide equal justice throughout the state. ”
Generally, state drug laws are understood as those of Washington’s cities and provinces. With the disappearance of the state law against possession, locals can draft their own laws and fines, and some have already started doing so.
“The bill we passed today is not the last word on the subject,” Billig said in a statement. “It is a compromise that keeps this important legislation going so that we can do our duty as the representatives of the people of our entire state.”
Representatives in the House, however, indicated that the meeting is more prone to abandon drug possession. On Thursday, lawmakers in favor of a broader drug reform introduced a new bill, HB 1578, that would expand the treatment and restoration of services and classify low-level possession as a civil offense, which would be punished with a fine of up to $ 125 and no possibility of imprisonment. .
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Of all the measures currently taking place in the session, the new bill is the agreement with neighboring Oregon’s drug criminalization measure passed by voters in November. But his way forward is uncertain: HB 1578 will have to pass through the chambers of the legislature in less than two weeks.
Similarly, it remains unclear how the House will receive the Senate bill, SB 5476, in its new form. More progressive members of the Democratic caucus have said they will not vote for legislation that introduces criminal penalties for simple possession, but it is not certain they will be able to garner enough support to introduce a decriminalization measure.
If the senators of the Senate were to amend the Senate Bill before adopting it, the legislation would have to go to a conference committee, where members of both chambers would iron out differences in the two versions of the bills.
Earlier this year, before the Supreme Court’s ruling, a House Committee passed a separate bill, HB 1499, which would end criminal penalties for the use of drugs for personal use and lead people to evaluation and treatment instead. It would also have significantly expanded the state’s outreach and recovery programs for people with drug use disorders. The measure could not proceed further after it missed a deadline for legislation last month.
HB 1499, in turn, stemmed from an attempt to put a drug criminalization initiative on Washington’s vote last year. Supporters have put pressure on the legislature after briefly pushing on their signature campaign after COVID-19 broke out in the Seattle area early last year.
Advocates for reform noted that the state’s criminal application of drug possession laws had a strong prejudice against coloreds, especially the black, brown, and indigenous communities of the state.
In her comments on the Senate floor, Dhingra reiterated the point, arguing that the Blake decision provides an opportunity for lawmakers to finally address these racial differences.
‘I would say that the Supreme Court has given us an opportunity,’ she said, ‘an opportunity to really reflect on what we as a state and as a nation have done in connection with the war on drugs, and to really think critically about the impact it has had very, very specifically on Brown and Black families. ”
“The racial impact of our drug laws cannot be underestimated,” Dhingra continued. “If we look at mass incarceration, if we look at families with a single parent raising their children, if we look at parents who cannot find work, cannot find housing due to their criminal history, cannot recover. , it comes down to the way we apply our drug laws. ”
Rep. Roger Goodman (D), the main sponsor of the new house measure, HB 1578, which would have committed a civil offense, did not respond immediately on Thursday night. However, in an interview with Marijuana Moment last month, he calls the Blake decision a blessing and a curse. ‘
‘This is an opportunity for us to find a more effective approach that does less harm,’ he said, ‘but we do not have the opportunity to be purposeful and inclusive in discussions with stakeholders, so it is not so good. thought out- a suggestion out, as it would be otherwise. It must be an interim measure. ”
Just five years ago, few state legislators would have dreamed of having drugs criminalized after a court ruling like Blake. Now attitudes are starting to shift.
‘There’s this phenomenon called discontinuous change,’ Goodman told Marijuana Moment, ‘where nothing happens and nothing happens and nothing happens, and then the Berlin Wall falls down. We come to that place in drug policy where it is a turning point. ‘
Voters in Oregon ended the ban on low-level drug possession during the vote during last November’s election, which contributed to the national debate.
In both Maine and Vermont, lawmakers also unveiled legislation last month to decriminalize small amounts of illegal drugs. Last month, a Rhode Island Senate committee held a hearing on legislation that would end criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs and replace them with a $ 100 fine.
In New Jersey, meanwhile, Governor Phil Murphy (D) said last month that he was “open-minded” about decriminalizing all drugs.
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