New Washington sheriff standards law faces another lawsuit 8%
By Jake Goldstein-Street0% Washington State Standard0%
4/13/2026, 9:02:42 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 29 faulty reasoning types, including Begging the Question, Negativity Bias, and False Dilemma, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 17.1% saturation with 144 hits. Analysis detected 1,123 faulty-reasoning hits from 843 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 24.4% and a BS Rank of 8% (20,238 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 92.50% of the article peer group.
Washington’s new law that seeks to hold sheriffs to higher standards and paves the way for their removal from office is the target of a second lawsuit.
This one comes from the Washington State Sheriffs’ Association and a candidate for Kitsap County sheriff.
They argue Senate Bill 5974, signed last week, improperly shifts power from local voters to an unelected state board, calling it a “delegation of standardless discretion to agencies to gatekeep access to a constitutionally established elected office.”
RELATED: Ferguson signs controversial law tightening standards for Washington sheriffs
The association represents all 39 sheriffs across the state, almost all of whom are elected.
The group had urged Gov.
Bob Ferguson to veto parts of the law.
The legal challenge comes a week after four eastern Washington sheriffs filed a suit of their own in Pend Oreille County Superior Court.
Both complaints make similar arguments.
There could be more challenges to come.
Walla Walla County Sheriff Mark Crider, president of the sheriff association, says the law “takes away power from the people of Washington state.”
“There’s nothing in that law that can be changed to make it palatable.
It’s an unconstitutional law and it should be stricken from the books,” Crider said last week, before the lawsuit was filed.
RELATED: Controversial bill spelling out removal for decertified sheriffs advances in Washington Legislature
Its backers see it as holding sheriffs and police chiefs to the same standards as rank-and-file officers and, those who fail to do so shouldn’t be enforcing the law upon others.
They think it’ll help build trust in law enforcement.
The defendants are the state Criminal Justice Training Commission, Washington State Patrol and the two agencies’ leaders.
They’re represented in court by the state attorney general’s office.
A spokesperson for the attorney general said Friday that the office was still reviewing the complaint and will respond in court filings.
Commission spokesperson David Quinlan said the agency “remains committed to carrying out its responsibilities under state law and ensuring accountability, professionalism and public trust in law enforcement certification and training.”
The state patrol declined to comment.
The other plaintiff, Rick Kuss, is running for sheriff but wouldn’t qualify under the new requirement to have at least five years of law enforcement experience.
Kuss has been a certified peace officer as a King County sheriff’s deputy, but only since 2023, according to the lawsuit.
RELATED: Could conservative sheriffs get removed from office?
This requirement doesn’t apply to active sheriffs, as the Pacific County sheriff wouldn’t qualify and would have to vacate office.
Other new criteria for county sheriffs and local police chiefs will include having no felony or gross misdemeanor convictions, being at least 25 years old and not having done anything that would get state certification as a peace officer revoked.
Candidates for sheriff or police chief must sign a sworn statement ensuring they meet these new standards.
Sheriffs will also now need to get their certification from the state Criminal Justice Training Commission if they don’t already have it within nine months of taking office.
Previously, they had a year.
Losing certification or failing to meet any other requirement will get sheriffs removed from office.
County officials would install a replacement until a successor is elected.
Currently, only voters can remove sheriffs, via the seldom-used recall process.
Five-member hearing panels from the Criminal Justice Training Commission make final decisions on decertification.
The panels include three civilians and two police officials.
The lawsuit, filed in Thurston County Superior Court, believes under the law, “The people’s choice is nullified not by the people, not by the courts, and not through constitutional removal processes, but by an executive agency acting under its own rules.”
Supporters see it differently, feeling that the onus shouldn’t be on the public to remove police leaders who commit misconduct.
All candidates for sheriff will also need to undergo background investigations from the Washington State Patrol, with their counties footing the bill.
The lawsuit argues this process will limit who can run, so it undermines the constitutional right to free and equal elections.
The plaintiffs in this case are represented by Joel Ard, a lawyer known for challenging Democratic-backed policies who has represented the state Republican Party.
A court hearing on this lawsuit hasn’t been set.
A Pend Oreille county judge could hear arguments next week on whether to pause the law during that separate litigation.
In a court filing Friday, the attorney general’s office urged a judge to uphold it because the claims are “based on serious misunderstandings of what the law does.”
The state is also seeking to move the case out of Pend Oreille County and get the court date pushed back.
The defendants in that case are Ferguson, the Legislature and the state of Washington are named as defendants.
Most of the law is set to take effect at the end of this month, in time for the filing deadline for this year’s elections in early May.
This story was originally published by the Washington State Standard.
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