[0:03] Second meeting of the law and justice committee. My name is Ronda Lewis. I am the chair and I appreciate you being here today. I appreciate the large contingent from the Office of Law enforcement oversight as well. It's good to see you here this morning.

[0:19] On today's agenda we have three appointment confirmations for the community advisory committee for law enforcement oversight.

[0:27] We have the Office of Law Enforcement Oversights Annual Report, and then lastly we have a briefing

[0:34] from the Human and Civil Rights Commission on their annual report.

[0:38] And we will begin this morning by calling the roll.

[0:41] Clerk Williams, please call the roll.

[0:43] Thank you, Chair.

[0:44] Councillor Mervale Ducci.

[0:45] Councillor Mervale Bedone.

[0:46] Here.

[0:46] Councillor Mervale Dimbalski.

[0:48] Here.

[0:49] Councillor Mervale Mosquita.

[0:52] Chair Lewis.

[0:56] Okay. Moving on, vice chair, we're on. May I have a motion to approve the minutes from the July 1-2026 meeting.

[1:05] I'm happy to do that. I'm not the vice chair of the committee, but I just want to make sure that I, I'll move for you.

[1:11] I move up rule of the minutes. I don't want to overtake somebody.

[1:14] All right, appreciate that. All right, all those in favor say aye.

[1:23] Yeah, we will turn.

[1:25] Is that an aye from councilmember DeBelsky?

[1:27] It was, sorry for the later.

[1:30] Thank you.

[1:32] And let's see, Council Member Mosqueta is signing it.

[1:38] Great.

[1:38] Well now turn to public comment.

[1:41] Clerk called around.

[1:42] Do we have anyone in person or on the line wishing to provide public comment?

[1:47] We do have one person in chambers.

[1:52] And nobody has raised their hand on Zoom, but I had two people on there.

[1:55] All right. Thank you. I'll review the rules for public comment just really quickly.

[2:03] Public comment must be related to items on today's meeting agenda.

[2:07] Cannot be used for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to office

[2:12] or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition.

[2:18] It also must not include a scene speech.

[2:22] If the speaker fails to abide by these restrictions, the speaker will be ruled out of order and the microphone will be turned off.

[2:29] You'll have two minutes to speak, and then you'll hear a timer at that point you may finish your thought.

[2:34] But please wrap up your comments. If you go past two minutes, you may be muted.

[2:40] We'll begin by calling on the person who has signed up to speak in person.

[2:45] That would be Alex Simmons.

[2:57] I'm President of the Dap America, one speaker about this little nice piggy Nazi piggy

[3:04] who here.

[3:06] For a dozen years, I may complain to you over last, like omitted doesn't complain and

[3:11] ever have one answer.

[3:13] You understand?

[3:14] Luxes.

[3:15] It's a new generation of Democrat Nazi piggy.

[3:19] Why?

[3:20] Because I complain to you three months ago, twice about superior

[3:27] your court, my Tory complain. Small claim cases complain to your court, Tory and not

[3:37] one accept, no one ever registered or dismissed without registration.

[3:44] Ma'am, I have this complaint not only here, I write to you twice, where is answer for this.

[3:51] Are you a shizafrenic? Who are you? You forgot about this? You have right?

[3:57] give me answer. So what is we talking about this Nazi piggy, you know, that is mean, even bosses don't respect constitutional law.

[4:07] Three months, I ask you for answer of my complaint. I bring you complaint, you accept my complaint, you know, that is mean in writing.

[4:16] Where is answer? Where is answer? So when you act in like a Nazi Gestapo piggy, you know, that is mean.

[4:23] So what is you talking about this new generation?

[4:26] Look, they face it.

[4:27] It's all Democrat and all stupid in all nuts.

[4:30] Democrat nuts.

[4:32] Yeah, exactly.

[4:32] This is how you're talking for many years.

[4:35] Viva Trump, Viva New American Revolution,

[4:37] stand up, slaving, happy cow.

[4:39] Chases, looks it, his face is dirty.

[4:42] Thank you very much.

[4:43] You too.

[4:46] Thank you, Mr. Zimmerman.

[4:49] Is there anyone else in chambers

[4:51] who was not able to sign up that would like to make a public comment?

[4:59] You're in no one.

[5:00] That's raise their hand online. On line. On line. Okay. Great. Well, we will move on. There's no one on line.

[5:11] We're seeing no further requests. We will close public comment.

[5:18] Moving on to our first item on the agenda. The first three items on the agenda are

[5:23] of appointments to the Community Advisory Committee for Law Enforcement

[5:29] Oversight, commonly known as CACLEO.

[5:33] I'm pleased to welcome these appointees before us today.

[5:36] We appreciate members of the public who stepped forward to serve on

[5:39] communities, your participation.

[5:42] Please an important advisory role in helping inform the work of

[5:45] King County Government and we are grateful for your time and

[5:48] commitment to public service.

[5:50] For each appointment, a pointy, rather, we will hear an introduction from Nick Bowman, Council

[5:56] Staff, and then we will have an opportunity to hear from each appointee and ask questions.

[6:02] Nick, please begin.

[6:06] Good morning, Council Members.

[6:07] For the record, Nick Bowman, Council Central Staff.

[6:10] As the chair mentioned, there are three at-large appointments to the CACLAO on the agenda

[6:14] day, which are items five, six, and seven.

[6:18] The materials for agenda item number five, begin on page eight of your packet.

[6:22] I'm going to start with just a very brief overview of the Advisory Committee and then

[6:26] introduce the first appointee.

[6:29] The Community Advisory Committee for Law Enforcement Oversight is an 11 member committee

[6:33] which supports the activities of the county's Office of Law Enforcement Oversight.

[6:37] Some of the committee's duties include serving as liaison between Olio and the communities

[6:42] it serves, advising Olio on law enforcement training policies and procedures, and advising

[6:48] KCSO and the Council on Matters of Equity and Social Justice related to law enforcement, as well

[6:54] as on problems and opportunities for improvement in KCSO practices.

[7:00] All right, so agenda item number five is proposed motion 2026-01700, and this would confirm

[7:07] the Executive's appointment of Daniel Santon who resides in Council District 7 for a term

[7:13] inspiring on March 31st, 2027.

[7:17] According to his application materials, Mr. Sanson is a King County Metro employee who previously

[7:21] served on the sound transit citizens oversight panel and has a passion for improving the

[7:26] community's relationship with law enforcement.

[7:28] Now, staff have not identified any issues with proposed appointment, and that concludes my remarks.

[7:36] Thank you, Nick.

[7:37] Mr. Sanson, would you like to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about why you'd like

[7:43] on the committee.

[7:47] Hello, council members.

[7:49] Again, my name is Dan Santon.

[7:51] It's just a little different from the blur with the bottom.

[7:58] I worked for King County Metro, and there was a call

[8:01] in the Asian American Native Hawaii,

[8:03] Pacific Islander, and played resource group

[8:05] for volunteers to this particular committee.

[8:08] And my son is attending the University of Washington,

[8:12] and was interested in becoming a police officer.

[8:14] And so I figured that it would align with my interest as a father to understand where my sons

[8:20] intrus are and learn a little bit more about policing and give my time to help improve

[8:29] the relationship between the police and the community.

[8:32] I was born in Japan and the relationship between the police and the Japanese population is very

[8:40] than the United States would like to present that gap a little bit.

[8:46] Great. Well, that's great motivation for signing up, getting to know more about your son and his interests.

[8:53] Colleagues, do we have any questions for Mr. Santon?

[9:00] My colleagues online. Do you have any questions?

[9:11] All right. Then may I have a motion to approve.

[9:16] Proposed motion 2026-0170.

[9:19] Chair, I move that we give a due-past recommendation to propose motion 2026-01070.

[9:27] Clerk Williams, will you please call the roll?

[9:29] Thank you, Chair. Council Member Valducci. Council Member Valducci.

[9:32] Council Member Valducci. Council Member Valducci. Council Member Valducci.

[9:33] Council Member Valducci. Council Member Valducci. Council Member Valducci.

[9:37] I, Chair Lewis. I, but as four eyes, zero nose with Council Member Valducci excused.

[9:44] Thank you. By our vote, we have approved proposed motion 2026.

[9:48] 2026-017O with a due pass recommendation.

[9:54] If there are no concerns, we will place this on the consent agenda for the next appropriate

[9:59] full count.

[10:00] Council meeting. And that would be the meeting of September 15th, Mr. Santon, you do not need to attend the meeting, but you're welcome to do so.

[10:10] Thank you for your interest in serving, appreciate it.

[10:19] Okay, our next item is a motion confirming the appointment of Kyle Jones to the CACLEO.

[10:26] Nick, would you please introduce Mr. Jones?

[10:28] Absolutely. The materials for agenda item number six can be found on page 16 of your packet.

[10:33] proposed motion, 2026-0183 would confirm the executive's appointment of Kyle Jones, who resides

[10:39] in Council of District 2, for a term to expire on March 31st, 2028. According to his application

[10:45] materials, Mr. Jones is the director of programs that look to justice, a nonprofit organization

[10:51] that provides civic education to system-impact communities so they are able to participate

[10:56] in the legislative process. Again, staff have not identified any issues with proposed appointment,

[11:00] that concludes my remarks.

[11:04] Thank you.

[11:04] I'm always proud when D2 members of the constituents step up to serve.

[11:09] I appreciate your service, Mr. Jones.

[11:12] Would you like to make a statement?

[11:16] Yeah, I'll just say, hello.

[11:17] And thank you for your time in your consideration.

[11:20] As was mentioned, my name's KJ.

[11:22] I'm actually now a deputy director.

[11:24] I look to just this.

[11:24] I just got a permission.

[11:27] And yeah, I would just say I worked apple for eight and a half years

[11:30] as a genius. I played a role there and unionizing the stores in Washington and Oregon actually

[11:37] started a union campaign with both states, you know, shared information on unionizing

[11:43] and the importance of, you know, workers standing up for what's right, and what they deserve,

[11:50] and just bridging that gap between business and the worker right, and I think in community,

[11:54] we have the same issues, a lot of times there's disconnect between government and community,

[11:58] And so I'm just looking forward to being able to be someone who can help bridge that gap.

[12:06] Thank you.

[12:07] We have any questions for Mr. Jones.

[12:14] Colleagues online, any questions?

[12:16] I don't see any hands.

[12:20] All right.

[12:21] Then we will move on to the motion confirming the appointment of Kyle Jones to the CACLEO.

[12:27] May I have a motion to move the proposed motion?

[12:32] Sure, Chair, I move that we give a due pass recommendation to proposed motion 2026-0183.

[12:42] Clerk, would you please call the roll.

[12:44] Thank you, Chair. Council member Belducci. Council member Betton.

[12:49] Council member Dimbowski.

[12:51] Council member Muskita.

[12:53] I, Chair Lewis.

[12:55] I vote as four eyes zero nose with Council member Belducci excused.

[12:59] Thank you.

[13:00] By our vote, we've approved proposed motion 2026-01-83 with a do-pass recommendation, and again,

[13:08] if there are no concerns, we will place this item on the consent agenda for the September 15th

[13:13] Council meeting. Mr. Jones, thank you for your interest in serving. You do not need to attend that meeting,

[13:21] but you're welcome to do so if you choose. So congratulations and congratulations on your appointment.

[13:26] I mean on your promotion.

[13:30] Thank you, thank you all.

[13:34] Okay.

[13:34] Our final CACLEO confirmation for today is Samuel Hawkins.

[13:39] Nick, would you please introduce Mr. Hawkins?

[13:43] agenda item number seven and the materials can be found on page 24 of your packet.

[13:48] Proposed motion 2026-0186 would confirm the executive

[13:52] appointments of Samuel Hawkins, who resides in Council District 5, for a term to expire on March

[13:58] 31, 2028.

[14:00] According to his application materials, Mr. Hawkins is currently a volunteer for a non-profit

[14:04] organization, filthy rags outreach, assisting with young men who are just a system involved

[14:09] and helping individuals as they transition from the Department of Corrections back into the

[14:14] community.

[14:15] Staff has not identified any issues with proposed appointment, and that concludes my remarks.

[14:19] Thank you. We do have Mr. Hawkins in chambers this morning. Mr. Hawkins, if you'd like

[14:26] to come up front and make some remarks, we'd appreciate that.

[14:34] Mr. Hawkins explained to

[14:35] me this morning. He's been pretty patient with this appointment process and we appreciate

[14:41] that as well.

[14:44] Good morning. My name is Senator Hawkins and my reason for

[14:51] The second appointment is to better communicate

[15:00] Transitions with youth and law enforcement as they transition back into the community, as well as the

[15:07] adult, subwork with adults as well. And I'm just looking forward to trying to build something

[15:17] that will precipitate change and a better understanding of between both communities.

[15:25] Great, thank you for that. Any questions for Mr Hawkins?

[15:31] Not so much a question, but just gratitude to you and to the other people who've decided

[15:37] to put forth their names and be patient with us in our appointment process and grateful

[15:41] for your willingness to serve the community in this role.

[15:43] So thank you.

[15:48] Any of my other colleagues, questions or comments?

[15:55] Again, Mr. Hawkins, we do appreciate so much, Stuart, work that you've done in community

[16:01] and the work that you continue to do and then look forward to your serving on CACLEO.

[16:05] So, at this point, may I have a motion to move proposed motion 2026-0186?

[16:13] Chair, I move that we give a due pass recommendation to proposed motion 2026-0186.

[16:19] Thank you.

[16:21] Clerk Williams, will you please call the roll?

[16:23] Thank you, Chair. Council member Belducci. Council member Budon.

[16:27] Aye. Council member Dumbowski.

[16:29] Aye. Council member Mosceda.

[16:31] Aye. Chair Lewis.

[16:33] But as four eyes, zero knows with Councilor Valdeux, you excused.

[16:38] Thank you.

[16:39] By our vote, we have approved proposed motion 2026-0186 with a do-pass recommendation.

[16:47] Mr. De Hawkins, as you heard me say to the others, this item will be placed on the September 15th Council meeting.

[16:55] You don't need to attend the meeting, but you're welcome too if you'd like to be present.

[17:00] Congratulations. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for your patience and hanging in there, and serving in the meantime, while you waited to be appointed. Thank you.

[17:09] Thank you so much.

[17:11] Thank you.

[17:14] All right.

[17:18] Our next agenda item is a report from the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight.

[17:23] It's their annual report from 2025.

[17:27] The work of the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight is very important in providing civilian

[17:33] oversight to help ensure county law enforcement is accountable and fair.

[17:38] So today we have the Director of Oligo here with us to provide the report.

[17:44] Council member?

[17:47] Did you mention if the previous item was on consent or not?

[17:50] I thought I did, but if I did not, I'll say that we will put that on consent for the September 15th meeting.

[17:59] Thank you.

[18:11] Director Abbasate, thank you for being here today, and please proceed when you're ready.

[18:20] Thank you very much.

[18:26] Thank you, Chair Lewis, for inviting me to speak to the Law and Justice Committee today and to present

[18:33] The annual report was transmitted to the council in the beginning of June.

[18:38] I hope everyone has had a chance to peruse it.

[18:41] As usual, I highly recommend reading the report in its entirety.

[18:46] I have received feedback in the past that sometimes I got a little too far into the weeds

[18:50] when I give these presentations, so I'm going to keep it more high level today.

[18:54] But obviously, we'll gladly take any questions that you may have.

[18:59] And of course, the report is available on our website for any members of the public to look at as well.

[19:05] We will begin as usual by going over some data about investigations and allegations of misconduct by the King County Sheriff's Office or KCSO.

[19:14] Overall, the total number of complaints this year or in 2025 was down by 4% year over year and down by 6% compared to the 2021 to 2024 average.

[19:27] Compared to that timeframe, the number of complaints

[19:30] originating from within the sheriff's office

[19:33] have declined by 9%, while the number of complaints

[19:36] originating from the community have climbed 5%.

[19:41] Nearly half of all complaints were classified

[19:44] in the expedited category because preliminary evidence

[19:47] was conclusive.

[19:48] About a third of complaints was classified as formal

[19:51] investigations with serious policy allegations.

[19:56] Allegations coming from within KCSO.

[20:00] We're formally investigated, far more often than allegations coming from within the community, which were more often expedited, again, because preliminary evidence was conclusive.

[20:11] Olio certified 87 internal investigations, those are investigations that are conducted by KCS Olio internal investigations unit, while being monitored by Olio.

[20:21] and we only declined to certify one investigation.

[20:25] 2025 was also the year,

[20:28] olio began officially conducting independent investigations

[20:31] and we completed 11 independent investigations in that year.

[20:37] 29% of all KCSO deputies were subjects of one or more allegation,

[20:43] which is just slightly higher than the previous few years.

[20:47] That increase is almost entirely accounted for by deputies

[20:52] who received a single allegation from a community member.

[20:56] The percentage of deputies with three, four, or five allegations decreased notably,

[21:03] while the percentage with just one or two allegations has grown.

[21:13] The vast majority of all specific allegations fell into four categories.

[21:18] violations of directives, subpar performance,

[21:23] discuracy, and use of force.

[21:26] Two of those violations of directives and subpar performance

[21:29] are a little too general to be a value for us.

[21:34] So in 2026 we have started applying what we are calling descriptive allegations.

[21:39] Just as an aid to help folks understand what type of conduct we are talking about

[21:44] any specific case because something like violation of directives or subpar performance may not

[21:48] necessarily explain what the conduct that we're talking about is.

[21:54] Of the 614 total allegations investigated and closed in 2025, about a quarter ended with

[22:03] sustained findings, almost double the rate of the previous year.

[22:07] That includes investigations that resulted in performance related training, but no other

[22:12] forms of corrective actions, such as discipline, for example.

[22:16] That number rises to over two thirds sustained

[22:20] when looking at allegations originating from within the

[22:23] sheriff's office.

[22:25] The difference in that sustained rate is present even when

[22:28] taking into account allegations that are related to internal

[22:32] training needs or minor policy violations.

[22:36] For allegations originating from community members, about 14%

[22:41] of those were sustained, which is consistent with the numbers

[22:44] from last year.

[22:49] On the policy side, we are proud to have completed

[22:52] in 2025 our first community guided policy project.

[22:57] And since the publication of the annual report,

[22:59] we have also published one more,

[23:02] while another should be published next week.

[23:04] The first project was related to traffic enforcement.

[23:08] Our community partners identified traffic enforcement

[23:11] and road safety as a top concern.

[23:15] And we've published those recommendations last year.

[23:18] Olio and its community partners completed outreach

[23:20] with local communities, worked with Sheriff's Office

[23:23] personnel, researched best practices,

[23:27] and developed four recommendations.

[23:30] To develop a data-driven traffic safety strategy

[23:32] that prioritizes safety-related enforcement,

[23:36] traffic enforcement, to reform guidance

[23:39] for traffic stop procedures to improve data collection practices and to refrain from increasing

[23:47] automated traffic enforcement using cameras until a feasibility until on unless a feasibility

[23:52] and equity study is conducting to analyze and mitigate any privacy and equity concerns.

[23:59] And that process must include robust community engagement.

[24:05] In the last few weeks, we published

[24:07] a second community guide at Policy Project on responding to increased federal immigration enforcement.

[24:14] As immigration enforcement intensifies, intensifies nationwide, community members have been

[24:20] seeking additional resources and protections for immigrants in King County.

[24:25] Leveraging community input, Olio and its partners recommended that the sheriff's office strengthen

[24:30] current policy to be more responsive to community needs, expand community education and outreach,

[24:36] and promote understanding by clarifying the existing policy language.

[24:42] And a third project to be published next week,

[24:45] so beyond the look-offer, that will focus on crowd management

[24:48] and the use of the rapid deployment force within the sheriff's office.

[24:54] Our community engagement work is essential to our policy recommendations.

[24:59] all your spots.

[25:00] Policy recommendations are developed in direct collaboration and consultation with community members and community organizations.

[25:07] We prioritize equity and reflect community interests, legal standards, and law enforcement best practices in our recommendations.

[25:17] We now have seven formal partnerships with MOUs with various community-based organizations.

[25:22] They have put in dozens of hours of work, including providing a direct link to community members through surveys and listening sessions.

[25:31] We are so grateful to our community partners.

[25:34] Archive King County, Urban Family, looked at justice, Congolese integration network,

[25:40] People Power Washington, Transportation Choices Coalition, and East Side for all.

[25:45] And we are always looking for more partners.

[25:47] So if anyone is listening, please reach out to us.

[25:51] We also want to thank the members of CACLEO, both past, present, and those who will hopefully

[25:56] be appointed soon.

[25:59] You are right.

[26:00] We were all very patient with the appointment process, and we are really glad to see these

[26:05] appointments coming through, and we are really grateful to all the community members who are

[26:09] willing to put in the time and effort to help us build a better King County.

[26:15] Those are the main highlights of our report.

[26:17] And like I said, I highly encourage you and members of the public to read our report, which

[26:21] available on our website. This is my sixth and final annual report presentation to you. As you all

[26:29] know, I am leaving my position in just about a month, so I request your indulgence while I take

[26:33] a moment to say a couple of things about the office. Over the last five years, all you have

[26:38] made tremendous strides in delivering accountability to the residents of King County,

[26:43] though there remains much more to be done. We have double the size of the office and more than

[26:48] the number of investigations we handle.

[26:51] We have built an independent investigations program from the ground up.

[26:55] We created a many think tank in the office,

[26:58] dramatically increasing the number and scope of our policy recommendations.

[27:02] We have entered into strong partnerships with community organizations.

[27:07] We have staffed and strengthened CACLEO.

[27:10] We also worked tirelessly to develop internal policies and procedures

[27:14] that make the office able to function smoothly and with accountability.

[27:19] Operations work has often done behind the scenes and I want to acknowledge that tremendous

[27:23] strides that we have seen in that area as well.

[27:27] The last five years at Olio have seen the office blossom and I am so proud to be leaving Olio

[27:31] in the shape that it is in.

[27:34] And as much as I would love to take credit for all of that, the real credit belongs to the

[27:39] staff at Olio.

[27:40] I am amazed every day by their dedication to civilian oversight and their commitment to serving

[27:46] the people of King County.

[27:56] The job of the police account of a police accountability agency is not a fun one.

[28:01] If you do your job right, somebody is always mad at you, sometimes for real reasons, and sometimes

[28:06] for made up ones, and I am sure you are familiar with that dynamic as well in your positions.

[28:12] But I will tell you what has made this job worth it for me.

[28:16] it's people. I'm referring to the people of King County who deserve a strong, transparent and unbiased

[28:23] civilian system of oversight over law enforcement. And I am referring to the people who work at

[28:28] oil, many of whom are behind me today, who deserve your support and your courage. They are each

[28:35] one, a shining example of what it means to be a mission-driven public servant. I am not exaggerating

[28:41] when I say it has been the honor of my life to lead this group, to work with them, and to

[28:47] learn from them, day in and day out. So please allow me to acknowledge them by name,

[28:53] Liz Dopp, Simmer Hans, Leah Hunter, Katie Kirchner, Megan Graft, Ryan McFail, Kate Miller,

[29:01] Vania Nanda, Rick Powell, Jamie Ridgeway, Jamie Tugumberg,

[29:06] Molly Webster, and Sophie Ziliak.

[29:09] You all are Oliot.

[29:11] You are what made Oliot the office it is today,

[29:14] and you will be what keeps Oliot in true service

[29:17] to our communities.

[29:19] And with that, I say to you goodbye for now,

[29:21] and I thank you sincerely for the opportunity

[29:24] you've given me to serve the people of King County.

[29:29] Thank you, Director Abazade.

[29:33] You were very eloquent in calling out your staff, and I'll just say that the tone at

[29:37] the top is very important, and you set the stage with your leadership for the kind

[29:43] of performance that we've seen from Olio.

[29:46] Thank you for that.

[29:47] Thank you very much.

[29:48] Thank you.

[29:49] So before we get into discussion, I'm going to ask for a motion, and then we can go back

[29:53] our discussion. So may I have a motion to move proposed motion 2026.

[30:02] 0144.

[30:03] Sure, so moved.

[30:04] Thank you.

[30:05] Okay, so now discussion.

[30:09] Colleagues.

[30:11] Happy to start us off.

[30:12] Director, I was able to thank you.

[30:14] I wanted to acknowledge, as you did, the opportunity that you had now to present your final report.

[30:23] And I just wanted to say that we're very grateful for your service to our community.

[30:27] and I think you have left Olio in a better place than you found it and that's important

[30:32] as a director and I want to say gratitude to all the all your staff that's here and a commitment

[30:37] from me. And I know my colleagues share this in terms of maintaining the independence of

[30:43] Olio and strengthening our accountability mechanisms. So thank you for your service to all of

[30:48] you and especially to you as the departed director. So thank you very much for that. Thank you so much.

[30:54] I wanted to just ask turning more to the details of the report, you know, a couple things

[31:01] that I found notable. One is the reduction in the number of complaints, and you can think

[31:07] of, it's always tricky to look at that number and understand what may be behind it, right?

[31:14] Because on the one hand, you might say, okay, well, this is a good, a good news scenario

[31:18] because there's, you know, fewer incidents that are leading to somebody having to complain

[31:24] and that's a good sign. On the other hand, it could be because maybe people have,

[31:29] are not paying the attention or maybe they're not engaged. So, do we have any sense?

[31:34] And I also think of like the number of interactions that people are having, I know, in the past year,

[31:40] you know, which is obviously a positive thing, you know, our crime rate overall has gone down.

[31:45] So maybe there are fewer.

[31:46] Any thoughts about any trend lines that you could share

[31:50] about what you see in that number in that reduction of complaints,

[31:53] which again, could be seen as a positive.

[31:54] I don't want to dispel that it may just be a reflection

[31:57] of our law enforcement arm here at the county,

[32:02] the KCSO doing well, but just wanted to understand

[32:05] how we can think of that number.

[32:09] That is a million dollar question.

[32:12] That's always the question when you see reductions.

[32:14] I will say that the reductions that we've seen have been fairly consistent over the last few years.

[32:21] And so that tells me that it is not necessarily due to people feeling like they can't reach out.

[32:29] So when we see that kind of consistent decrease, I think it probably means that we're doing things better and more effectively.

[32:39] I also think that taken in conjunction with the sustain rates, for example, where this year,

[32:47] the sustain rates jumped higher.

[32:51] It means that there is a focus on the actual violations and making sure that that deputies

[33:02] who may have engaged in positive violations are handled accordingly, and that things are

[33:08] done to address those things. So I think taking those two numbers in conjunction with one another

[33:14] to me presents a positive picture with the caveat that we don't really know. I think one of the

[33:22] things that the council is going to be looking at soon is the idea of improving data collection.

[33:29] I think that is something that is really important for us to be able to read more into those numbers.

[33:34] When we start collecting better data, about stops, about reasonable suspicion stops, about traffic stops, all that kind of stuff.

[33:44] We are going to be able to get a better idea of is the decline in complaints a positive thing or is it because people are losing trust in the system.

[33:57] I haven't seen indications that it is because people are no longer complaining.

[34:07] Thank you.

[34:10] Colleagues, Moscaidard and Vowsky.

[34:13] Any questions or comments?

[34:20] Councilmember Moscaidard.

[34:26] Thank you very much.

[34:27] First, let me add to the comments that my colleagues both council committee chair Lewis and Councilmember.

[34:34] But I don't have noted.

[34:36] You mentioned that the team, the incredible team behind me, which I think is a testament to your leadership that they are there today.

[34:43] You mentioned that they are shining examples of public servants, and I just want to call attention to how much your work and your presence and your thoughtful approach to this office is also a shining example of public service.

[34:59] So thank you.

[35:00] We're being that public servant to the county because of your work and your honesty and your willingness to try to hold institutions accountable.

[35:10] I do think that King County is in a better place and I absolutely wish we had more time with you to continue to grow the strength that you've already brought to this office.

[35:20] I am so appreciative of your leadership and for continuing to speak truth to power.

[35:24] And I'm so thankful for the innovation that you brought to this office and to really be thoughtful about the engagement that you've had with law enforcement agencies, with community partners, with elected officials, with members of the public, their relationship and respect that I think you've earned from all of those stakeholders is palpable.

[35:45] And I know that when I had some questions about how the engagement went with King County Sheriff's Office,

[35:52] and inquired about those, there was only positive things to say about how the office and you as the director had engaged with the King County Sheriff's Office.

[36:00] Even if you're relying information that's hard to hear about changes that are desired or needed,

[36:07] there was always a thread of respect and appreciation for the role that you had in the way that you did it.

[36:14] So thank you for your time with us.

[36:16] I think it's unfortunately cut short prematurely,

[36:19] but I'm forever grateful for your service.

[36:21] And I'm hopeful that we will continue to build on the recommendations

[36:25] that you have offered, not just in this report,

[36:28] but in previous reports as well,

[36:30] that we know some of those recommendations are still outstanding.

[36:34] I also wanted to just build on some of the questions

[36:38] that my colleagues had.

[36:39] And wanted to ask about sort of the way in which you're seeing ICE officers engage with the King County Sheriff's Office.

[36:52] I guess wondering how the response to the federal immigration enforcement that you'd called out any reflections on specific room for growth in KCSO.

[37:01] We know across the country and here locally that the Sheriff's Office is not in a unique position to having

[37:10] ice officers call and try to, I think, inappropriately use our King County Sheriff's Office when they're feeling unsafe

[37:17] as even though there's lawfully protected activities like observing ice proceedings, KCSO and other local law enforcement.

[37:27] And I think are getting looped in to calls from ICE when they feel like they need protection.

[37:35] So anything that you hear of in that realm that you think is a prime example for improvements

[37:41] or policy recommendations that you want to elaborate on?

[37:46] Thank you for your kind words.

[37:49] First of all, Council Member Musquira,

[37:52] there is a timeline on the policy recommendations on

[37:58] federal immigration enforcement, and we are waiting right now for responses from the sheriff's office.

[38:05] I think once that happens, I think the plan is to have a full briefing on that here in this committee

[38:12] to discuss our recommendations in detail. I will say that we, just to be completely frank,

[38:20] we anticipate that one of our recommendations is going to be a hot button issue, which is the idea

[38:27] that some, and this is something that a few jurisdictions around the country are considering,

[38:34] which is whether there should be any intervention at all on the part of the King County

[38:40] Sheriff's Office, if they witness, for example, federal law enforcement engaging in, let's

[38:45] say, excessive force, and our recommendation specifically based on excessive force.

[38:49] What we heard time and again from community members is that they do not feel protected,

[38:59] If a person, if a civilian, is beating them up against the law, then that civilian will be stopped,

[39:06] but if someone, if a federal officer is exceeding the scope of their duties and engage

[39:13] in excessive force, then they do not trust that that will be stopped.

[39:16] And that is currently the guidance, is that no intervention at all.

[39:19] One of our recommendations is for the sheriff's office to

[39:25] in consultation, of course, with legal advisors and community members,

[39:29] to create a policy directing deputies to intervene in very limited circumstances

[39:33] when there is a use of excessive force.

[39:36] We anticipate that that's a hot topic issue, and it brings up a lot of

[39:42] legal issues that are somewhat novel because it's not something that has been really

[39:47] done before, but it is something that some jurisdictions are currently considering and we believe

[39:51] that King County can be on the front lines when it comes to that, just like those other

[39:56] jurisdictions are when it comes to protecting our immigrant community.

[40:02] And there will, like I said, hopefully, be a, not hopefully, I'm certain there will be a full briefing on this once, once the response from the sheriff's office is presented as well.

[40:13] And then we can have a further discussion in the committee when that happens, too.

[40:19] Not sure I'll be here for it, but it will, it will have.

[40:23] And chair, just a follow-up.

[40:26] Go ahead.

[40:27] I think I appreciate the, you know, foreshadowing of the report that's coming.

[40:34] And I also think that there is an opportunity for us to remind members of the public and everybody who is a public servant as well.

[40:47] right there's lawfully protected observer roles that anybody can have and in fact

[40:52] Governor Ferguson encouraged the residents of Washington State to continue to be vigilant

[40:57] to film ice to make sure that when we see ice operating in our communities we hold them accountable

[41:06] by filming them obviously we don't want to put people in danger by any means but you can legally

[41:11] observe you can call out the fact that they're in neighborhoods you can use a horn

[41:14] and noise machines to let people know is that's what the community strategy and desire is.

[41:22] All of those things are legal and to the degree that a legal observer is using those techniques

[41:29] and tactics that should not trigger a ICE agent calling any officer to intervene in those situations.

[41:37] So I appreciate that foreshadowing of the report to come and just would encourage as well looking

[41:40] other jurisdictions that have helped to provide education and revamping of internal policies so

[41:48] that everybody knows what their legally observed protected, legally legal observers can do in

[41:56] their citizen roles so that they don't get in a position where ISIS, I think, you know, trying

[42:02] to ask a law enforcement officer to intervene when someone's just legally observed. So that's

[42:06] It's like different category than what you articulated,

[42:10] but I think it's an important one as well.

[42:15] And then my last question is really related to the,

[42:20] like the requirements to take action.

[42:23] In the packet on pages 41 and 42,

[42:25] it talks about how Olios policies or investigative recommendations

[42:29] are potentially considered and then acted on.

[42:33] We have seen in the report that KCSA was not necessarily required to take action on the recommendations that was a point of discussion that I had with folks which lend itself to the discussion I mentioned earlier where people really had positive things to say about the interaction and the professional relationship with the office itself.

[42:52] But there, there does seem to be a clear delineation between a recommendation versus, like a directive to include the policy outcomes.

[43:07] So are there other agencies that are similarly situated to you that receive recommendations, but don't have to act on it, for example, like does the auditor's office mean that an agency must implement a recommendation?

[43:21] or are those also recommendations and not a directive? How does it compare between similarly situated

[43:28] offices that are independent?

[43:31] I think generally speaking, yes, most of the time it is recommendations

[43:35] and there is no, and they're not directives. There is no way to force any agency to take the actions.

[43:44] What we have started doing, and what we have started doing is we now do a six months and 12 months kind of evaluation period.

[43:56] After we make recommendations, so that we can update the council and the public on which of our recommendations have been considered, which have been implemented, which have been rejected, which are pending, so that people have a better idea.

[44:07] But really, the power that we have is to bring it to light.

[44:15] I will say just to echo what you've said about the relationship.

[44:20] It is a two-way street with us in the sheriff's office.

[44:25] So just like we are respectful of their role and we make our recommendations.

[44:32] They are also respectful of our role and us making recommendations.

[44:36] Sometimes we disagree, sometimes recommendations are held up for other reasons.

[44:41] According to the sheriff's office, it could be something like money, it could be something

[44:44] like staffing, whatever the case is.

[44:47] So that is why we have we started the six months and 12 months implementation evaluation

[44:52] that we're going to be doing moving forward to let people know and let the council know which

[44:57] of our recommendations are being.

[45:00] Followed and which aren't. And we are also working through processes with the sheriff's office right now to make sure

[45:07] that our communication is even better than it has been, and to make sure that things are being presented

[45:12] in a holistic way both to the council and to the public. But to answer that question again,

[45:20] it is generally speaking, I would say, most civilian oversight agencies do not have the ability to give

[45:28] directive to the law enforcement agency, they only present recommendations.

[45:32] And I believe that the Auditor's Office is the same.

[45:35] It's not necessarily that someone is required to take the action.

[45:40] They are required to respond to the recommendations of the Sheriff's Office, to the recommendation

[45:44] of the Auditor's Office.

[45:45] But they're not necessarily required to take the action, which is also why the Auditor also

[45:50] does follow up reports to indicate which of the recommendations have been accepted and which

[45:57] have not.

[45:59] Okay. And that was part of my question too. Do they do the agencies respond, even if

[46:05] they're not a policies that are adopted? It sounds like yes, to Olios, to Olios recommendation.

[46:11] There's a response whether or not it's adopted. That way, there's a full dialogue on the concept.

[46:17] Yes. And sometimes it takes a little bit longer than others because obviously they're very

[46:20] complicated matters and they have to run it through their policy people and all that stuff. So it

[46:24] some time, but generally speaking, you know, first we request an initial response from them that

[46:30] we publish at the same time as publishing our report so that people can see everything and then

[46:36] we also let folks know when we anticipate a more full or a deeper response. And then sometimes

[46:43] we will respond to their response. And so on.

[46:50] Thank you. So director, I was in keeping with the theme

[46:55] of recommendations. I have a couple of questions of the 12 recommendations that you mentioned

[47:04] in the report, what allegation group? Did they address, yes, did they address or attempt

[47:10] to remedy? And then of those 12, do you know yet how many have been partially implemented,

[47:17] fully implemented or rejected?

[47:23] I will answer that by telling you that you should be receiving in the next couple of days a kind of a guideline of all of our policy, all of our outstanding policy recommendations or really all of our policy recommendations period and going through them and saying what percentage of them were fully adopted partially adopted not adopting and pending.

[47:46] So, we will be sharing that with Council members in the next couple of days so that you have a complete understanding of each recommendation and what the status of it is right now.

[47:59] As far as allegation groups, we don't really, we don't really keep track of the recommendations in terms of in terms of allegation groups because they're not necessarily directly related to violations or investigations.

[48:11] Some of the recommendations are not necessarily related to specific allegations, but they are just

[48:17] recommendations for improvement or clarity or taking a different stance.

[48:22] And so we don't really group them that way.

[48:25] But I think the document that you're seeing in the next couple of days will be very informative in terms of answering those questions.

[48:32] Great. Thank you.

[48:34] And one more question and that's about the external allegations you mentioned that some of those are handled in an expedited way when preliminary evidence was deemed to be conclusive by the sheriff's office.

[48:51] So what is the standard that's used to evaluate conclusiveness?

[48:57] So, the classification of preliminary evidence as conclusive is first proposed by the Sheriff's Office.

[49:06] When they look at, that when they start an investigation, they first propose it.

[49:10] But we have to agree with them that the preliminary evidence is conclusive.

[49:14] And what that means is that there is clear and convincing evidence that whatever is being alleged either happened or didn't happen.

[49:25] Because sheriff's office deputies now a lot of them are wearing body-worn cameras that has made our job a lot easier in terms of identifying whether conduct has occurred or not.

[49:36] And preliminary evidence being conclusive does not necessarily mean that an allegation is not sustained.

[49:41] Sometimes the preliminary evidence is conclusive and so it will go straight to you know for example doing some kind of performance related training if there's no discipline involved if it's a minor violation things like that.

[49:53] It might go that route as well, but it is a process that occurs.

[50:00] There's both within the sheriff's office and that oil separately where we have to agree whether there is clearing

[50:07] commencing evidence within what we see that shows us clearly what happened and so then there's no necessity for further

[50:15] investigation. So it's a way to kind of, and this is a category that we came up with together with the sheriff's office when we were

[50:29] And this was one of the ways to be able to make sure to handle all the complaints that we

[50:36] got, but do so in a fair manner that is fair to complainants and law enforcement officers

[50:44] as well.

[50:45] And it's been working really well with the aid of, I would say, bodymoorne cameras have made

[50:50] it a lot easier.

[50:53] Great.

[50:53] Thank you very much.

[50:56] Thank you. Sorry, I want to make sure that other folks got a chance to ask questions for

[50:59] I ask my next one.

[51:02] So, Director, I was saying one of the things that I also wanted

[51:04] to note on your report on, this is on page 19, where you talk about the number of

[51:11] allegations against individual officers and kind of how many or deputies and how many people

[51:17] and obviously, you know, important to note that like the majority of our deputies did not

[51:22] actually having the allegations against them and then it breaks down the numbers and so I think

[51:29] one of the questions that I have is with deputies that had, it's a small number that

[51:37] have six or more allegations in a calendar year. Do you all kind of, and I realized that like

[51:46] you're not necessarily involved in discipline part of this, but I'm just wondering if there's

[51:49] kind of tracking over time of like who those deputies might be and you know whether there's

[51:57] kind of patterns year over year. Like you're seeing like there's a little bit of a pattern

[52:01] here and that there's like a high number of allegations against in this case three there are

[52:07] two last year. I'm just trying to understand like whether that's something that you all look at at

[52:11] sort of the the pattern and I realized that there's complicated issues around the collected

[52:16] arguments and in terms of the discipline, but is that something that you all engage with

[52:21] KCS?

[52:22] So, not just the individual, but when you start seeing sort of those patterns of how that

[52:27] gets resolved.

[52:28] I imagine for the community, I think it's an important thing for us to consider, too.

[52:33] Absolutely.

[52:34] And when we were working on the annual report for this year, part of what we were looking

[52:40] for, that is something that we were specifically looking for.

[52:43] whether the deputies who have a high number of allegations this year are the same deputies

[52:50] who have had the high number of allegations in the years previous.

[52:54] And when we used their unique identifiers to kind of figure that out, there was not a very,

[53:01] there was not a strong trend that we noticed.

[53:04] And so the trend is still that there is a small number that is responsible for this proportion

[53:13] number of allegations,

[53:17] but there is not, we did not see that, we did not see a trend about

[53:22] specific activities, for example. We did look for it, if we had found it, of course, we,

[53:28] you know, we would have had to figure out how to communicate that without running a file of any

[53:33] collective bargaining agreement conditions. But yeah, we did not, we did not necessarily find that

[53:42] I appreciate that you're looking at it, somewhat reassuring that you're not seeing that pattern,

[53:48] because I think that would cost them concern, but I appreciate that you're Alice's ghost and death like that.

[53:53] So thank you.

[53:54] Thank you.

[53:57] Are there questions?

[54:00] Comments?

[54:04] Well, we do have a motion before us to approve proposed motion 2026-0144 with the due pass recommendation.

[54:15] Clerk Williams would you please call the roll.

[54:18] Thank you, Chair.

[54:19] Councillor Merval Ducci.

[54:20] Councillor Merval Batone.

[54:21] Aye.

[54:21] Councillor Merval D Carolina.

[54:22] Aye.

[54:23] Councillor Merval Mosquito.

[54:26] Chair Lewis.

[54:27] What is 4?

[54:28] Is 0-nosed with Councillor Merval Ducci excused?

[54:32] Thank you.

[54:33] By our vote, we have approved proposed motion 2026-0144, with the due pass recommendations.

[54:40] If there are no concerns from my colleagues, we will place this item on the consent agenda for the September 15th Council meeting.

[54:52] I'll close by saying Director Abazade, we appreciate your work so much and thank you for leaving the office.

[55:00] Members of law enforcement oversight in better shape than you found it. Thank you.

[55:05] Thank you so much for your loss. Thank you, council members. Thank you.

[55:14] Moving on to our final agenda item. It is another annual report and this time from the human and civil rights commission.

[55:26] The human and civil rights commission, as you know colleagues was formed last year, making today their first time providing an annual report to the law

[55:35] Justice Committee, we are grateful to have their executive committee members here today to present

[55:41] and to tell us about the important work that they are undertaking.

[55:46] This time I'd like to call on human and civil rights commission co-chair, Jennifer

[55:53] Carl's, to begin, and please start by introducing yourself and your other commissioners.

[56:06] Good morning, Chair Lewis, Vice Chair Jim Bowski, and members of the committee.

[56:10] Thank you for this opportunity to brief the law and justice committee on the Human and Silver Rights Commission's Annual Report, which we transmitted in April of this year.

[56:22] I am the HCRC co-chair, Jennifer Curls. I use her pronouns, and I'm joined today by my fellow executive committee members, who all pause here to allow them to introduce themselves.

[56:35] Good morning.

[56:41] Good morning.

[56:42] Good morning.

[56:44] Good morning.

[56:45] Good morning.

[56:45] My name is Daisy Wong.

[56:46] I am the co-chair of the commission and my pronouns are she heard.

[56:54] Good morning.

[56:54] My name is Allison Hastings.

[56:56] My pronouns are she.

[56:58] And I am the secretary of the commission.

[57:04] And I believe you'll see our presentation for you today as well.

[57:08] So as a reminder, today's briefing focuses on our inaugural annual report,

[57:14] which covers the period from September 2025 through March of 2026.

[57:20] The next reporting period will span the 12 months from March of 2026 to March of 2027,

[57:27] and will include the one-time reporting requirement associated with the changes to powers

[57:32] and duties recommendation.

[57:35] As you can see on the slide, much of the inaugural periods centered on establishing foundational

[57:40] structures for the commission. A major focus was developing our bylaws to bring clarity

[57:46] to the operations and support long-term sustainability. This work can occurred as the inaugural

[57:53] commission stepped into a period of transition following the November election. Throughout this

[58:01] period we have been diligent in refocusing our efforts to ensure alignment with our mission,

[58:07] while navigating these organizational changes.

[58:12] While the commission has experienced significant transitions,

[58:17] we have also made substantial progress.

[58:19] Progress we look forward to sharing a greater detail with you all

[58:23] in our next annual report.

[58:28] So continuing from that timeline that we just reviewed.

[58:31] I wanted to highlight a few of those foundational activities

[58:37] Translated into our key accomplishments for 2025.

[58:42] We began by successfully establishing the commission following the inaugural member

[58:47] appointments in the summer of 2025.

[58:50] The foundational steps at the stage for all of the work that followed that year.

[58:57] We launched our public facing work with our first official HCRC meeting in September of 2025,

[59:03] working the start of our community engagement and advisory responsibilities.

[59:10] As noted in the timeline, we formed our bylaws in the fall and completed the first draft

[59:16] of our governance bylaws by December.

[59:19] This was a major milestone that has helped create clarity, consistency, and long-term

[59:25] sustainability and how the commission operates.

[59:27] We also established collaboration with the King County Immigrant and Refugee Commission through a December joint convening, which helped build an understanding of shared priorities and create an opportunity for connection.

[59:44] And throughout the year, commissioners were building foundational knowledge essential to our advisory role, learning about civil rights investigations, county processes, and the broader program structure.

[59:57] We close that our year by electing off.

[1:00:00] Officers to support coordinated leadership. And altogether, these accomplishments reflect a year of building, grounding, and preparing the commission to move into more substantive advisory work.

[1:00:15] And I just want to say that we're very appreciative of the staff who have been supporting the commission and our work and our growth over this past year.

[1:00:25] So with that, I'll give the forward to my co-chair, Daisy.

[1:00:29] Thank you.

[1:00:30] So looking ahead, the goals we included in the annual report outline

[1:00:34] our long-term direction,

[1:00:37] strengthening community connections,

[1:00:39] reviewing the Civil Rights Program,

[1:00:41] assessing protected classes,

[1:00:43] and legal updates along with reviewing policies

[1:00:46] and enhancing partnership to support

[1:00:48] stronger civil rights outcomes.

[1:00:51] And as we've gained experience, we've also refined or focused based on lessons learned.

[1:00:59] In the commission experience commissioner turnover, vacancies, and shift and staff support

[1:01:05] following the election and county reorganization, these realities help clarify where immediate efforts need to be.

[1:01:13] And as a result, we have pivoted towards priorities, not reinforce or foundation, strengthening

[1:01:20] our infrastructure, developing structures, study sessions, and onboarding, filling vacancies

[1:01:28] and completing the first draft of the changes to the powers and duties report.

[1:01:35] These refined goals help ensure that as we move forward, we are grounded, coordinated, and

[1:01:40] set up for a long-term effectiveness.

[1:01:45] We've already begun implementing several of these priorities over the past few months.

[1:01:50] We've developed a structured study session curriculum.

[1:01:54] The civil rights team has put together an incredibly robust framework for us.

[1:01:59] The eight sessions that we've had so far have helped clarify our understanding of county

[1:02:03] functions.

[1:02:05] Civil rights processes and the current oversight landscape.

[1:02:08] We have an additional 10 sessions scheduled throughout this month and the early fall

[1:02:13] and we're planning and then person retreat this fall as well to support onboarding of new

[1:02:18] commissioners, team building, and collective learning.

[1:02:22] In September, we'll also conduct a mapping exercise to synthesize what we've learned

[1:02:27] so far and we will use this to shape how we approach the powers and duties report.

[1:02:33] That will inform our initial recommendations.

[1:02:36] And those might include things such as budget, staffing, and process considerations needed

[1:02:41] to support the Commission's long-term goals.

[1:02:46] And to close, we want to emphasize that this first year

[1:02:49] has been both foundational and instructive.

[1:02:52] We are building the structures, relationships,

[1:02:54] and internal clarity needed to support meaningful civil rights

[1:02:57] oversight in the years ahead.

[1:03:00] And despite the transitions and learning curves,

[1:03:02] the Commission remains committed to strengthening equity,

[1:03:04] accountability, and community partnership across King County.

[1:03:08] We're grateful for the long Justice Committee's ongoing

[1:03:11] supporting guidance and extremely grateful to the staff support that we've received and we look

[1:03:16] forward to continuing this work with you. And this point we're happy to answer any questions

[1:03:21] you may have. Thank you. Great. Thank you for that presentation. I am impressed with how much you've

[1:03:30] been able to accomplish and just what maybe 13 months or so. So that's really impressive and

[1:03:36] see the foundation that you've laid for future years with that. I will turn to colleagues for questions.

[1:03:44] Comments?

[1:03:47] Well, thank you. Well, first of all, I just want to say express our deep gratitude to

[1:03:51] all of you for serving in this role. I'm very excited, and I wanted to defer a little bit to

[1:03:57] I shared the mouse key just because he led the effort here to, I would say, revitalize the

[1:04:04] commission from prior iterations, I think the, you know, as the chair mentioned, you

[1:04:11] know, I appreciate all the work that's been done already in this relatively short period

[1:04:15] of time.

[1:04:16] I know that that was a lot of kind of foundational work and the substance slice I had.

[1:04:22] I will just, it's more of a, you've kind of answered a little bit the question that I had,

[1:04:26] which is like, you know, what, what supports do you need and it sounds like there's some

[1:04:30] work to actually kind of present that and we look forward to, I want to be sort of cautious

[1:04:33] in terms of where we can promise, in terms of particularly when it comes to the budget because

[1:04:38] of our constraints here, but especially in the general fund.

[1:04:40] But I do want to hear it, I guess I do want to open and say that one of the things that I think

[1:04:47] we discussed a lot when this commission was being discussed and this new iteration is ensuring that

[1:04:53] there's strong support. So I'm glad to hear in terms of the report about the fact that that

[1:04:58] coming from... from our...

[1:05:00] Executive branch colleagues and really want to make sure that you get what we, you know, that

[1:05:08] you get the support to make this effort successful. And also that we, you know, we want, you know,

[1:05:16] part of the reason that I think we wanted this to be a revitalized part of our county government

[1:05:22] is we want this kind of independent group that's telling us that the council and the county government

[1:05:29] more generally, how do we can improve in the area of civil and human rights, right?

[1:05:34] I often think that, especially if we are going to be living and working in a Dr. King's

[1:05:40] face, it's actually behind this thing right here, but I think that we need to be really

[1:05:46] particularly here at King County in a place that in a matter of time, to be living the values

[1:05:51] of human civil rights.

[1:05:52] And so I appreciate all the work that you're already undertaking and look forward to hearing

[1:05:57] your recommendations and how we can do better at the local level.

[1:06:01] So thank you.

[1:06:05] That's a member of the council.

[1:06:06] Thank you chair.

[1:06:07] I want to join my colleagues in expressing gratitude for the tremendous work you're doing

[1:06:11] to set this up for long-term sustainability.

[1:06:16] And just to maybe be a little more of a specific council member of our own question.

[1:06:22] Do you feel, do you have adequate staff support?

[1:06:27] One of the challenges with the prior version, the Civil Rights Commission, was there was

[1:06:33] a long time staffer, and then when she retired, kind of the staffing support kind of,

[1:06:39] I don't know if that evaporated, but yeah, it dissipated, and that led to some kind of

[1:06:46] anemic situation there, so we to follow up on customer bronze kind of inquiry there.

[1:06:52] How do you feel about the staff support?

[1:06:54] I'm not asking you whether you like the person who staff you.

[1:06:57] I'm saying, do you have enough help to get your job done?

[1:07:04] Well, I will say we have experienced some transitions in the staff support for this commission.

[1:07:11] Since we came together for that first meeting in September of 2025,

[1:07:15] each person that has supported us has been really incredible.

[1:07:20] So I would say we like them, we appreciate them and they have been really incredible in helping us to

[1:07:29] wrap our arms around the mission of this body of work.

[1:07:33] I do think we will continue to kind of explore what kind of resources and staffing support.

[1:07:38] This commission might need in order to be sustainable and effective and efficient for the county.

[1:07:44] And that's something we'll be focusing on a bit when we have this retreat in September and start thinking about

[1:07:50] What kind of recommendations we want to put into the powers and duties report?

[1:07:55] What if anyone wants to add anything?

[1:07:58] I would encourage you to don't be a stranger.

[1:08:00] We want to support you over here and we have a little bit of a say on budget and things like that.

[1:08:06] And I will acknowledge too we've had a change for the first time in about 16 years of executive administration and new people.

[1:08:13] And so that's probably led to some transitions I would suspect.

[1:08:16] The second area I wanted to ask you about, we were very deliberate in adding the human rights component to this commission, beyond the civil rights foundation.

[1:08:29] One in four residents of King County, we're not born here. We're facing an unprecedented assault on human in my view on human and civil rights in the county by our federal government, particularly with respect to immigrants and refugees.

[1:08:46] And while our powers to respond to that are somewhat constrained,

[1:08:53] I think bearing witness,

[1:08:55] we heard some testimony, we're not testimony, but we covered this a little bit on the

[1:08:59] oleal report, but bearing witness to what's going on and then raising a voice collectively

[1:09:05] and from an official body like yours, I think could add some value, I think folks here in

[1:09:12] county are desperate for our response. I feel sometimes we don't have the tools and the

[1:09:23] powers that we can do it, but I guess I would ask do you have, I know you're getting

[1:09:27] all set up, but do you have any plans or would you consider perhaps conducting some hearings

[1:09:36] to highlight what's going on here in King County with respect to these issues, perhaps

[1:09:42] issuing a statement, perhaps a joint statement with the King County Immigrant and Refugee Commission of Support for our Immigrant and Refugee Residence here and a condemnation of the treatment of them by the federal government.

[1:10:00] Wondering if you've considered engaging in this area?

[1:10:10] I appreciate that question, and certainly that is something that we have heard from the public about.

[1:10:21] Already in some of the engagement that the Commission has experienced already addresses those issues.

[1:10:27] I would say that we will certainly bring that up with the full commission when we next

[1:10:34] meet and discuss that as an opportunity, I guess, for the commission and moving forward

[1:10:42] thinking in those regards.

[1:10:48] Okay.

[1:10:48] Well, thank you.

[1:10:49] And I would also say, you know, we've heard some testimony in recent weeks here in

[1:10:54] members, particularly around organizations and people that are keeping eye on the flights out

[1:11:00] of Boeing field.

[1:11:01] We've got a long history of litigation there and doing some things, but I would encourage

[1:11:05] you not to be shy about aiming your gaze at King County's operations and making recommendations

[1:11:12] about how we can be a better government.

[1:11:15] There's no one leader or a body or group that has all the answers and we are looking

[1:11:23] for help and we're looking for guidance and we're looking for suggestions and I know you got

[1:11:27] your hands full kind of getting set up but this is such a pressing issue right now that I think

[1:11:34] I'm asking for your work and help in this area.

[1:11:43] Other questions or comments?

[1:11:50] All right well thank you very much as I said the work that you've done so far has been impressive

[1:11:55] even though it's you know it's start up in foundational and we do look forward to hearing

[1:11:59] more from you as you get stronger in your group and as you move on with actual subject

[1:12:06] matter expertise and considerations.

[1:12:10] So thank you.

[1:12:10] Thank you so much.

[1:12:12] Thank you.

[1:12:15] If there is nothing else to come before the committee, I want to thank everyone who participated

[1:12:21] in today's meeting and, oh, thank you.

[1:12:27] Clark, did we get all of the votes counted today?

[1:12:30] Council member Belducci was excused on all four items, but other than that we did.

[1:12:35] All right, thank you.

[1:12:37] So thank you.

[1:12:41] So if there's no other business to come before the committee, we are adjourned.

Law and Justice Committee

Agenda

Transcript