Washington Senate Passes Bill to Discourage Ticket Quotas for Police
The Washington state Senate unanimously passed a bill that would discourage law enforcement from using traffic ticket quotas. Shutterstock
STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | Assault weapons ban fails in Virginia … Housing voucher protections pass in Atlanta … Denver mayor rejects measure to allow pit bulls.
The Washington state Senate unanimously passed a bill that would discourage law enforcement from using traffic ticket quotas. The bill prohibits law enforcement management from using the number of tickets issued by an officer as a factor in their evaluations, salaries, or promotion decisions. The bill was introduced by Republican Sen. Jeff Holy, a former Spokane police officer. “This really is an integrity-in-law-enforcement bill that is long overdue. Many people believe that some law enforcement agencies order officers to issue tickets, which in effect creates a ticket quota system. This is damaging to the integrity of law enforcement as a whole in Washington,” he said. In his pitch for the bill to other lawmakers, Holy said that Washington was behind the times, as at least 14 other states, including Arizona, California, Texas, and New Jersey have all passed similar measures. A recent investigation into one New Jersey police department found that officers disproportionately targeted black and Latino drivers when they had to fill their ticket quotas. They often wrote tickets for minor infractions, like trinkets hanging from rearview mirrors. But even with state laws on the books, some departments have found ticket quotas hard to resist. In 2017, the ACLU in Rhode Island sent a letter to police chiefs around the state reminding them about a 2010 law prohibiting quotas after news reports that agencies were at least strongly suggesting a certain level of tickets be issued during shifts. “An encounter between a motorist and a police officer over a traffic violation is never a pleasant one, but it is even less so when the basis for the stop is to meet a quota, not to address a truly legitimate safety need,” the letter said. The bill in Washington now heads to the state House for consideration. [Associated Press; My Northwest]
ASSAULT WEAPONS | A measure in the Virginia Senate to block the sale of certain semiautomatic weapons like the AR-15 failed last week when four Democrats sided with the Republican minority to table the bill. Some moderate Democrats, including Sen. Creigh Deeds, said that the definition of “assault weapons,” as mentioned in the legislation, was unclear. “There are obviously a lot of questions about definitions in this bill. Definitions do matter,” Deeds said. The bill was supported by Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, and would have also made it illegal to possess silencers and magazines holding more than 12 rounds. Seven other gun control measures that Northam proposed are still under consideration. “Despite today’s vote, the Governor is proud of the several common sense gun safety measures that continue to advance. These bills represent historic steps forward in keeping Virginians safe from gun violence. Make no mistake—they will save lives,” reads a statement released by the governor’s office. [NPR; WJLA]
HOUSING VOUCHERS | The Atlanta City Council approved a measure to ban landlords from rejecting federal housing vouchers as a rental payment, making it the first city council in Georgia to do so. Supporters on the council said that the measure is needed as low-income renters scramble for very limited available housing. Jim Fowler, president of the Atlanta Apartment Association, said that his organization doesn’t condone discrimination, but that landlords sometimes reject vouchers due to “legitimate business reasons based on the red tape and burdensome bureaucracy that exist in the [Section 8 housing voucher] program.” Bambie Hayes-Brown, CEO of Georgia Advancing Communities Together, said that race and class discrimination keep many people out of housing. “It’s unfortunate that there has been a stigma placed on people who have vouchers. The vast majority of people who have vouchers are working families, the disabled and senior citizens,” Hayes-Brown said. At least 80 cities, counties, and states have approved similar legislation barring discrimination against voucher holders. [Atlanta Journal Constitution]
PIT BULLS | The Denver mayor rejected a measure passed by the city council that would have ended the city’s 30-year ban on owning pit bulls. Mayor Michael Hancock said his office received more than 900 emails about the bill, some of which convinced him that he could not “in good conscience” support the legislation. Councilman Chris Herndon, the original sponsor of the bill, said that he now plans to work on a ballot measure for November. [Denverite]
STOP SIGNS | A bill approved by the Washington state Senate last week would allow cyclists to roll through stop signs. The law reclassifies stop signs as “yield” signs for people on bicycles, which Senators said would speed up traffic at intersections with stop signs. The measure was approved with only one dissenting vote and would not apply to traffic lights. [My Northwest]
Emma Coleman is the assistant editor for Route Fifty.
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