By Sidney Tribe
“The best public policy is made when you are listening to people who are going to be impacted.”
— Senator Elizabeth Dole
When the Board retooled KCBA’s mission statement recently, we contended with an issue that surely challenged past boards: trying to create a sleek, concise statement reflecting KCBA’s tri-faceted mission of professional development for members, pro bono service to the community, and public policy advocacy to improve our laws and systems. The exercise was a good reminder that although KCBA’s member services and pro bono programs are more high-profile aspects of our mission, public policy advocacy is also a critical facet of KCBA. In fact, public policy engagement enhances KCBA’s ability to meet our other two missions: improving the legal profession and providing legal services.
A mission-critical pursuit since our founding
From the founding of KCBA, it has had a proud tradition of being the legal profession’s voice in Seattle, King County, Olympia, and Washington D.C. to champion access to justice, promote the administration of justice, and advocate for policies that will benefit the community. These legislative priorities include removing post-incarceration barriers to re-entry into employment, housing, public benefits, and civic life; embracing technology to expand voter access and democratic participation; maintenance of stable and affordable housing; and full funding of the judicial system.
Examples of KCBA’s historic public policy work includes creating the legal aid system in 1938, evaluating judicial performance in 1948, launching the public defender office in 1968, advocating for drug policy reform in 2001, promoting marriage equality in 2005, and advancing abolition of the death penalty in 2013.
Our current pursuit of increased justice in public policy
KCBA continues today to advocate for policy initiatives across a wide range of subjects.
Policing/unlawful use-of-force:
In 2018, KCBA supported voter adoption of Initiative 940, to provide for better training of police officers including conflict resolution and violence de-escalation. It also enhanced the State’s ability to prosecute for unjustified use of force and reformed our unlawful use-of-force laws. At the time, Washington was the only state in the union in which prosecutors had to prove a police officer acted with “malice” before a court could find use of force to have been unlawful.
Tenant protection and eviction reform:
In 2019, then-Governor Jay Inslee signed into law a significant tenant protection and eviction reform bill. The law extended the pay or vacate notice period from three days to fourteen days, protecting many tenants from homelessness. The measure closely mirrored the public policy position crafted by the public policy committee and adopted by the KCBA Board of Trustees just three months prior.
Voting rights:
In 2020, KCBA called for a law restoring voting rights to those convicted of felonies immediately upon their release from incarceration, rather than after their release from community custody. These voting bans disproportionately affected people of color, especially African Americans, and continue to perpetuate harmful systems of racial discrimination and a legacy of voter suppression. Also, KCBA argued for allowing formerly incarcerated citizens to participate in the political process, to help them renew their status as stakeholders in their government and facilitate their successful reentry into the community. One year later, the Legislature amended RCW 29A.08.520 to restore voting rights immediately on release from incarceration.
Criminal justice:
In 2022, advocates were confronting the problem of legal financial obligations (LFOs) imposed as part of criminal sentencing. The imposition of LFOs would fall primarily on poor people, since a substantial majority of those charged with criminal offenses in Washington qualify for indigent defense. Few defendants would have the ability to pay their LFOs. And despite the Washington Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling in State v. Gossage that defendants with time-barred LFOs were entitled to a certificate of discharge, the King County Superior Court Clerk’s Office was not signing the certifications and was continuing to collect time-barred LFOs. KCBA adopted a resolution recommending changes to court practices to remedy the problem.
A valuable resource for all KCBA members
The public policy committee and the Board of Trustees are working on a number of important advocacy initiatives in 2026. One highlight is a resolution to reduce barriers to occupational licensing for people with convictions, which currently bars people from many trades and professions and prevents them from accessing housing, employment, and needed governmental benefits. According to an Institute for Justice report, Washington State has the eighth worst occupational licensing laws in the nation, based on a combination of the number of licensed occupations and the average burden of those licenses.
You can be a part of this historic and impactful mission! Although public policy resolutions and positions are adopted by the Board of Trustees, the public policy committee does the heavy lifting on identifying issues, crafting a legislative agenda, tracking proposed legislation, and advocating for adoption or rejection of measures. The committee is open to ALL members to join. It is also available as a resource to all members and sections who have ideas for beneficial public policy changes that are in keeping with KCBA’s mission.
Be an agent of change for the better. Join the public policy committee today. https://www.kcba.org/?pg=Public-Policy-Committee
