King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion Shares 2025 Public Safety Legislative Priorities
King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion is today sharing information about the public safety bills her administration is fighting to pass this legislative session.
“The safety and well-being of the people of King County are my top priorities,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion. “These bills will make necessary investments in crime survivors, take steps to combat firearm violence, and strengthen accountability for perpetrators who prey on children. My team will be working with legislators to pass this ambitious agenda this year, and I look forward to seeing these bills enacted.”
Fighting for Crime Victims
Will stabilize the statewide funds for crime survivors that are administered through the Department of Commerce’s Office of Crime Victim Advocacy. As federal funds have decreased 90% since FY 2017, Washington State has struggled to make up the gap. This bill will provide certainty and critical resources for crime survivors who rely on community-based housing, crisis lines, civil legal aid, and many other services after they are victimized.
Addressing Gender-based Violence
Makes common sense fixes to Washington’s protection order statute and enhances protections for survivors, including by adding a new and enhanced penalty for individuals who possess undetectable or untraceable firearms (commonly referred to as ghost guns) AND are already subject to a protection order, no-contact order, or restraining order. Possessing a ghost gun is an extremely concerning pattern of behavior for individuals in these circumstances whose prior violent or concerning actions are known to the court.
→ The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office worked with Senator Jesse Salomon and Representative Lauren Davis to draft this bill.
VIDEO/AUDIO [1:04:55 minute mark]: King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kim Wyatt and Program Manager for the Regional Domestic Violence Firearms Enforcement Unit Sandra Shanahan testified in support of SB 5202.
This bill provides more nuanced, trauma-informed sentencing options for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking who have been criminalized. Drawing on New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, this proposal outlines reforms that would provide sentencing relief to criminalized survivors when there is evidence that the defendant’s experience being abused was a significant contributing factor to their criminal conduct. Crimes such first degree murder and sex crimes would not be eligible for relief under this bill.
→ The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office worked with Representatives Jamila Taylor and Roger Goodman to draft this bill.
Preventing DUI-related Deaths & Serious Injuries
King County has experienced explosive growth in felony traffic crimes. In 2022, King County experienced 151 traffic fatalities, a 94% increase compared to 2013. Additionally, 2022 saw 709 serious injury crashes in King County, a 561% increase compared to 2014. Alcohol and/or drug impairment is a key contributing factor in over 60% of these deaths and life-altering injuries. Lowering Washington’s per se blood alcohol concentration from .08% to .05% will send a message that any impaired driving is unacceptable. It will educate the community that impairment begins well before .08. In doing so, this legislation will save hundreds of lives and save around $4 billion dollars statewide and over $1.2+ billion in King County — without the need for increased arrests or additional incarceration.
VIDEO/AUDIO [1:20:03 minute mark]: King County Felony Traffic Unit Chair Amy Freedheim testified in support of lowering the BAC to .05.
Accountability for Hate Crimes
A fix to clarify the hate crime statute to allow for greater accountability in hate crime prosecution and more clarity in hate crime trials. This legislation will add “in whole or in part” to RCW 9A.36.080(1), making clear that a crime committed because of a person’s bias as well as another factor is still a hate crime. California has a similar statute on the books.
→ The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office worked with Senator Manka Dhingra and Representative Cindy Ryu to draft this bill.
VIDEO/AUDIO [24:00 minute mark]: King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Hate Crimes Yessenia Manzo testified in support of HB 1052.
Combatting Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Will raise the crime of “patronizing a prostitute” from a misdemeanor to a class c felony in order to decrease demand, incentivize law enforcement investigations, and generate resources for survivors. This legislation acknowledges the harm that sex buyers cause to survivors and the fact that they drive demand for trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable populations. This bill will double the associated fines — which go in part to local law enforcement and crime survivor services — and change the name of the crime to commercial sexual exploitation.
→ The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office worked with Representatives Chris Stearns and Jamila Taylor to draft this bill.
Addressing Firearm Violence
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is working in Olympia on a legislative fix to tackle the use of switches/auto sears — which are devices that can easily convert a handgun into a defacto machine gun. Our proposal will amend Washington’s definition of a machine gun to mirror the federal definition, and in doing so give prosecutors tools to prosecute switches/auto sears as machine guns. Additionally, we seek to raise the associated penalty for possession of a machine gun from a class c to a class b felony.
In July 2023 alone, Seattle Police responded to 18 shooting scenes with 20 or more shots fired. A decade ago, that number of high-round shooting scenes would be unusual for an entire year. Across King County, 107 people were killed by guns, another 369 were wounded and there were 1,701 shots fired reported in 2024.
Seeks to change the statewide sentencing statute that currently permits juveniles to be convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm five times before they can be held in detention longer than 30 days. This is sending the wrong message. Intervening earlier on — to incentivize behavior change and engaging with meaningful programming — can prevent juveniles from ending up in adult court facing more serious charges or being killed themselves.
→ The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office worked with Representative David Hackney to draft this bill.
Drug Policy
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office supports efforts to update the endangerment with a controlled substance statue to include fentanyl or synthetic opioids. Currently, when a child overdoses on fentanyl and the child does not die, the adult who caused that child’s overdose cannot be charged with a felony crime. We also support expanding substance use treatment options for parents in these circumstances so that their underlying addiction can be addressed. Washington State’s endangerment with a controlled substance law was written before the fentanyl epidemic. Of the 56 incidents involving accidental ingestions and overdoses by children in Washington in 2022, 24 involved kids 11 years old or younger, and fentanyl was the most common drug involved, according to the Seattle Times.
Prosecutorial Hiring
This bill will allow prosecutors, law enforcement and firefighters to hire people who are legally authorized to work in the United States — opening a new pool of qualified applicants at a time where prosecuting attorney’s offices are struggling to hire talent. The bill will also empower prosecuting attorney’s offices to better represent their communities. Currently, there are Washington State Bar-qualified attorneys who are able to privately practice but under Washington law are unable to serve as prosecutors. This does not mean hiring undocumented immigrants as prosecutors; this is a fix for people legally authorized to work in the United States.
Cracking Down on Mortgage Fraud
Will sustain and increase resources in the Mortgage Lending Fraud Prosecution Account, which helps fund mortgage fraud prosecution. The $1 surcharge — collected at the time a deed of trust is recorded in Washington counties — that funds this account has not been increased in more than 20 years. This bill will increase the surcharge to $5 and remove the sunset date on the underlying statute.
→ The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office worked with Senator Claudia Kauffman, Senator Derek Stanford and Representative Amy Walen to draft this bill.
VIDEO/AUDIO [22:00 minute mark]: King County Economic Crimes and Wage Theft Division Chief Deputy Patrick Hinds and Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Hugo Torres testified in support of SB 5109.
Stronger Laws for Child Sex Abuse
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is working with legislators to 1) fix Washington state statute, which currently does not view minors who are unconscious or unaware of a recording as creating child sex abuse material, 2) increase the statute of limitations for offenses related to dealing in, sending or bringing into the state, possessing, and viewing depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct from three years to ten years, and 3) include non-identifiable minors in offenses related to fabricated (AI) depictions.
→ The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office worked with Senators Tina Orwall and Manka Dhingra to draft this bill.
VIDEO/AUDIO [47:00 AND 1:17:00 minute mark]: King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Laura Harmon testified in support of making these important changes.
