Fagan vows to take on public safety in legislature

Public safety is the top of Rep. Susan Fagan’s priority list for the upcoming legislative session that begins Jan. 13.

Rep. Fagan, R-Pullman, in her fourth year as a legislator, will sponsor two bills in the Washington state House of Representatives. One concerns a bill about sexually violent predators and one pertains to a clearer definition of marijuana.

The objective to reforming the sexually violent predator statute is to prevent the release of sexually violent predators by closing a loophole in the sexually violent predator statute and defining treatment.

Fagan said she became involved with the sexually violent predator bill after a Clarkston mother of a victim found out that a predator was being released from jail and there was nothing they could do.

“The current law allowed a sexually violent predator access to his own expert expecting the state to pay for it,” Fagan said.

However, if the bill is approved, a predator who consults his own expert expecting the state to pay for that service must be interviewed by a state expert as well.

The state Attorney General’s Office is responsible for the commitment and recommitment hearings and trials for individuals deemed sexually violent predators.

The attorney general is seeking three reforms to the sexually violent predator statute.

• Some sexually violent predators refuse to participate in the annual reviews administered by the state’s forensic psychologists with the Special Commitment Center, severely reducing the experts’ ability to make an accurate recommendation as to whether the individual still meets the criteria of a sexually violent predator. Meanwhile, sexually violent predators can seek out their own experts to testify on their behalf. This creates an imbalance in the system, increasing the risk that a sexually violent predator who has not been rehabilitated will be released.

• Only 37 percent of civilly committed sexually violent predators participate in the state’s treatment programs specifically designed to prevent reoffending. The current statute does not define treatment and some individuals argue that activities such as Narcotics Anonymous meetings constitute treatment. The lack of clarity leads to unnecessary litigation and disincentives participation in the treatment programs being offered by the Special Commitment Center.

• The state now must administer examinations to determine whether committed individuals continue to meet the definition of a sexually violent predator on an annual basis, even if it is within weeks of a re-commitment trial in which a jury has decided just that. This creates unnecessary expenses and an unnecessary burden for attorneys prosecuting these cases.

This legislation addressees these three issues by:

• Permitting the state to pay for an expert for the sexually violent predator only if the sexually violent predator participated in the most recent annual review with the state’s expert;

• Defining treatment as the programs available to the sexually violent predators at the special commitment center or through the state when they are under the custody of the community through less restrictive alternatives;

• Entitling sexually violent predators to annual reviews within one year of their commitment or re-commitment trial.

These changes will reduce the risk of a sexually violent predator being released into the community and re-offending.

“To me it’s about people feeling safe in their community,” Fagan said. She added that this is one more tool to determine if sexually violent predators should to be in a community.

The Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and Washington Coalition of Crime Victim Advocates are supporting the legislation.

Whitman County Sheriff County Brett Myers initially contacted Fagan about marijuana legislation.

“I approached Rep. Fagan because I thought it would be a good avenue to get the bill passed,” Myers said.

He said since voters passed I-502 legalizing marijuana last year, the way law enforcement conducts business has changed.

Now, if officers arrest someone on illegal marijuana activity, law enforcement must prove that the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration exceeds .3 percent.

The suspected plant contents must be sent to a leaf technician in a crime lab and tests run $500 each that the state pays. With only three labs in the state, Cheney, Seattle and Vancouver, the backlog of tests is tremendous, Myers said. He said cases often require more than one test. One pending case he’s working now requires 10 tests, with a $5,000 price tag.

If officers stop someone for suspected Driving Under the Influence, a blood test is required which also is sent to a state crime lab. It takes two to six weeks for results.

“It bogs down the system,” Myers said.

He believes that each law enforcement entity can do its own testing, making the system faster, aiming to get more cases to trial in a more timely manner.

“Did I ever think I’d be working on this when I went to Olympia?” Fagan asked. “But people have asked me and with the passage of I-502 it’s creating a challenge for our law enforcement and we’ll have to face the challenge it’s creating.”

The bill, if approved, clarifies the definition of marijuana and also a legal definition of hemp.

Fagan said the state sheriffs, police chiefs, prosecutors, Washington State Patrol and the state Liquor Control Board endorse the bill.

House Bill 2905 clarifies the definitions of marijuana and THC concentration as adopted by I-502 to avoid an implication that the legal definition of marijuana includes industrial hemp.

Industrial hemp means the plant of the genus cannabis and any part of the plant whether growing or not, with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration that does not exceed .3 percent.

The proposed bills go to committees which decide if the bills will go to the full house. If the bills are approved by the committees, the Representatives will vote on the bills.

Looking ahead to the legislative session, Fagan reflected on the last four years and is looking forward to running again for her legislative seat.

“I can’t believe it’s been four years,” she said.

“When I was elected four years ago, my desire was to be on the (House) appropriations committee and I’m grateful to be appointed,” Fagan said.

“Over the years, I’ve been shocked what we’re (the state) doing to the citizens and counties and I don’t know how to solve it,” Fagan said.

“We can’t raise taxes. People are still out of work and the answer is not let’s raise taxes. It’s going to be a test of where our economy is right now. We’ve got to be careful of what we do.”

Fagan said she also is concerned about transportation issues.

“Do people want to pay an additional 10 to 12 cents in gas taxes?” she asked.