Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Leonard Christian’s subscribers Feb. 22, 2025. To subscribe to Sen. Christian’s e-newsletters, click here.

 

Wouldn’t you just know it? A poorly thought-out policy in juvenile justice has become yet another excuse to return violent offenders to our communities.

This week I found myself doing battle in the Senate Human Services Committee against a proposal that uses overcrowding to justify reduced sentences and early releases for the worst offenders in our Juvenile Rehabilitation system. Unfortunately, my team didn’t have the votes to defeat SB 5296 in committee. The measure was passed and sent to the Senate Ways and Means Committee for further consideration.

The problem we are trying to solve with this bill is entirely the Legislature’s creation – or to be more accurate, the responsibility of the party that currently holds the majority in the House and Senate. Over the last several years, my counterparts have enacted policies to keep juvenile offenders on a separate track through age 25, rather than sending them to adult prison when they come of age. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the result has been overcrowding at the facilities where we house our worst juvenile offenders under secure conditions. Green Hill School in Chehalis has become the flashpoint, where conditions have devolved to the point that violence is rampant, drug-smuggling is commonplace, and staff has difficulty keeping things under control.

There are many ways this problem could be solved. We could build new facilities. We could rescind the policies that created the problem. Or we could do it in the worst way possible, the way this bill does, by sending juvenile offenders back to the courts for reduced sentences, transfers to lower-security facilities, electronic home monitoring or suspended sentences.

I am the ranking Republican on the Human Services Committee, and when this bill came up for a vote Monday, I offered one amendment after another — in the name of common sense. Like maintaining sentences for offenders who are facing charges for assaulting guards, or who commit violent crimes like robbery. I proposed we give local law enforcement officials 30 days’ notice before offenders are returned to community facilities. I proposed that juvenile offenders serve 90 percent of their minimum sentences before they become eligible for this program. Yet majority members kept voting these down, because this would make it harder to empty the cells.

I’m sure we will see a repeat of this fight if this measure reaches the Senate floor.

I wish I could say this bill is an isolated case, but we saw the same thing happen in our adult prison system when our colleagues voted to shutter prisons, created an overcrowding problem, and then used it to justify sentence reductions and mass release prisoner releases. Now we’re doing it again in our juvenile system, with the sort of teenagers you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. If you commit the crime, I say you should do the time. But if we absolutely have to compromise, how about doing 90 percent of the bare minimum? I think that’s reasonable, don’t you?

First bill in Senate is approved by upper chamber

Honoring the Senate’s tradition of gift-giving

This week I was delighted to pass my first bill on the Senate floor and honor the Senate’s longstanding tradition of gift-giving when the vote is done. You can see my remarks by clicking here or on the video above.

The bill in question, SB 5172, codifies procedures for fire districts wishing to terminate their civil service programs, and it passed 47-1.  It’s the part that comes next that everyone loves, when new members present gifts to all the members on the floor.

These gifts are supposed to reflect the interests and history of our districts. In my case, I presented an aluminum paperweight cast in a U.S. flag design, reflecting the 4^th District’s role in aluminum production from World War II to the present day. These paperweights were produced by the manufacturing program at Spokane Community College. And they carry a personal meaning for me.

I came to appreciate the importance of our flag when I joined the Air Force at age 18 and developed an understanding of the sacrifice of our nation’s veterans. On the back, these paperweights are engraved with the words, “Our forefathers were willing to die for this flag; the citizens are just asking for your best.” I hope we remember every day we serve in the Legislature that we are here to do our best.

Good news for woodstoves – and for the people who use them

A victory for common sense as Ecology backs off on plan to double down on regulation

Wood-burning stove. / Credit: CCO-by-Alex P

Last week I sent an alert about a bill giving the state Department of Ecology the power to regulate wood-burning stoves, duplicating regulation that already exists on the federal level. This week I have good news to report. I think public pressure helped turn the tide. Ecology has quietly let the Legislature know that it will not be pursuing Senate Bill 5174, and will allow the bill to die without a vote this session.

Ecology had hoped to launch its own regulatory program and determine which stoves would be allowed for sale on the Washington market. Ecology’s argument was that the federal Environmental Protection Agency cannot be trusted to enforce its own regulations properly. But the result would have been higher prices and fewer choices for consumers, red tape and high compliance costs for manufacturers. Ecology now acknowledges that its actions were premature. Victories like these do not come often enough, and when they do, let us savor them.

On the air: 

A bold plan to end overcrowding in our prisons and juvenile facilities

Let’s house juvenile and adult offenders on the Capitol Campus

Click to listen:

On the Lars Larson show, Feb. 18

On The Commute With Carlson, Feb. 19

Here’s a great way to relieve the pressure on our prisons and juvenile facilities. Let’s put offenders up at the Capitol Campus in Olympia. Not only will it give inmates greater access to state government, it will give lawmakers the close personal contact with violent felons that they deserve.

I had a bit of fun this week with my Inmates in Olympia Act. We have a vacant building a few hundred feet from the Capitol that would be perfect for this purpose, the General Administration Building, currently slated for demolition. I can’t imagine a better place to house inmates than right alongside the Legislature, which has done so much under current leadership to put violent criminals back in our communities.

I had a chance to talk about this proposal on the Lars Larson and John Carlson shows, and you can listen to these radio spots above. I may have had my tongue planted firmly in cheek, but my meaning is serious. My sympathies are with the victims of crime, not those who commit them.

Mark your calendar: Town hall meeting is March 15

Don’t forget: We’ll be having an in-person town hall meeting in Spokane Valley on Saturday, March 15. I look forward to your questions about the 2025 legislative session, and I hope you will be able to make it. This meeting will be at Sun City Church, 10920 East Sprague Ave. in Spokane Valley. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. and the town hall runs from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Contact us!

If you have a concern about state government, or a problem with a state agency, please do not hesitate to contact my office. My most important duty is to serve you.

Mailing address: Post Office Box 40404, Olympia, WA  98504

Email: Leonard.Christian@leg.wa.gov

Phone: (360) 786-7606

Leave a message on the Legislative Hotline: 1 (800) 562-6000

Thanks for reading,

 

 

 

 

Sen. Leonard Christian

4th Legislative District