Key Findings

1. Initiative 2113 is a citizens’ initiative to the legislature that would allow the police to pursue criminals when they have a reasonable suspicion that a violent crime has taken place.
2. The initiative received 434,000 voter signatures, about 100,000 more than it needed to qualify. Lawmakers can pass it, propose an alternative or take no action. 
3. If they do not pass the initiative it will appear on the November 2024 ballot, possibly alongside an alternative proposed by the legislature.
4. In 2021 the legislature passed a bill, HB 1054, that greatly restricts the ability of police to chase DUI drivers or those who may have broken the law. 
5. Since its passage, law enforcement data and media reports indicate a widespread rise in crime and more cases of people refusing to stop for the police.
6. Initiative 2113 would allow police to pursue a vehicle if the officer has a reasonable suspicion the driver has violated the law, reasonably believes the driver poses a threat to public safety, and the pursuit has been authorized by a supervisor.
7. Initiative 2113 would largely repeal the restrictions on police pursuit that were imposed under HB 1054.

Introduction

A group of concerned citizens called Let’s Go Washington has gathered enough valid signatures for a proposed people’s initiative to the legislature, Initiative 2113, to allow the police to pursue someone when there is a reasonable suspicion the person has committed a crime.The measure is designed to enhance public safety and improve the quality of professional policing in communities across the state.

Initiative sponsors needed to collect 324,516 valid signatures (8% of the votes cast in the last election for governor) to submit Initiative 2113 for consideration in the 2024 legislative session. Sponsors exceeded the requirement by about 100,000, collecting more than 434,000 signatures and turned them in to the Secretary of State’s office by the December 31, 2023 deadline.
The Secretary of State certified the initiative and sent it to the legislature on January 11, 2024. 

Under state law legislators can choose among three courses of action:

• They can enact the initiative into law as is (the governor’s signature is not required); 
• They can take no action, in which case the initiative is forwarded to voters on the November 2024 general election ballot. If voters approve the initiative it becomes law; 
• They can pass their own alternative version, in which case both versions, the original and the legislature’s, will appear on the November 2024 ballot. Voters will first decide whether either version should become law and, if so, indicate on the same ballot which one should pass. 

READ THE FULL LEGISLATIVE MEMO HERE