After hours of passionate public comment and councilmember speeches, the City Council voted this evening to reject a proposal to match city law with the new state law regarding drug possession. The vote was 4 yes, 5 no. Voting yes were Council President Debora Juarez and Councilmembers Sara Nelson, Alex Pedersen, and Dan Strauss. The “no” votes included West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who noted that the mayor and police chief have said that drug sales and trafficking are their enforcement priority. Herbold also said she has no faith to believe the City Attorney’s Office will individualize its dealings with people who would be arrested under this law, because of the recent unilateral decision to stop involvement with the Community Court program. City Attorney Ann Davison, who had co-sponsored the proposal that the Council rejected, said afterward in a news release that “Seattle will now be the only municipality in the State of Washington where it is legal to use hard drugs in public.” Herbold fired back in her own news release calling that “an inexcusable mischaracterization of the law. As a result of Governor Inslee’s special session, the legislature approved a bill that adopts a statewide standard of gross misdemeanor for both possession and public consumption. This means that there is now a clear, statewide standard, and there is not a patchwork of differing regulations across the state. This state law will be effective in Seattle on July 1. Nothing the Council does, or does not do, can affect that.” Here’s video of the meeting:
West Seattle, Washington
06 Tuesday
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