NO RANDOM DRUG-TESTING BILL THIS LEGISLATIVE SESSION

OLYMPIA - Yakima citizens will have to wait awhile if they want to
see their police officers randomly drug-tested.

Proposed drug-testing legislation sponsored by Rep. Charles Ross,
R-Naches, would have allowed voters to pass local laws imposing
random drug testing on police officers and sheriff's deputies with a
simple majority vote.

Yet, with a bill cut-off date of Friday, and no hearing scheduled, it
is almost certain that House Bill 3178 will not see the light this
session.

Rep. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, chair of the House Committee on Commerce
and Labor, which is reviewing the bill, said he simply ran out of
time to address it.

"It is a short session and no one was really lobbying for or against
it," he said.

Yakima Mayor Dave Edler, City Manager Dick Zais and Police Chief Sam
Granato said they will continue to push for the legislation, and
police unions said they aren't going away.

"We knew it was late and a difficult sale E so we went for the long
haul. We are hoping to have conversations and build coalitions
amongst the sheriffs and police chiefs in the state to start a
dialogue that enables communities like Yakima to find ways to move it
forward," Edler said.

In January, Granato presented a drug-testing proposal to the
executive board of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police
Chiefs. Although the board verbally supported the concept of the
bill, the legislative proposal came too late for WASPC to actively
lobby on the bill's behalf.

Others are surprised that the Yakima City Council continued to
address the drug-testing issue.

A neutral arbitrator ruled in December that the city of Yakima could
not impose a mandatory random drug testing program on its police
officers. In response, the city drafted a legislative proposal and
presented it to a handful of representatives. Ross agreed to take it
on as prime sponsor.

"If the arbitrator can say no to that, we think the laws need to be
changed," Edler said Thursday.

"We thought the issue was settled. This is a sour-grapes maneuver,"
said Jim Cline, legal counsel for police unions in Washington. "We
agreed to arbitration, made our cases, and a neutral arbitrator made
a binding ruling. The city wants to amend the law so they can have
their way."

Other union represent-atives are also upset.

Bill Hanson, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police:
Washington State Lodge, said Thursday that his organization opposes
the bill in part because the city of Yakima is trying to go around
the bargaining process.

"The city lost in arbitra-tion and is now trying to circumvent the
law to see if they can change it. We can't support that," Hanson said.

The Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs, rep-resenting
rank-and-file

police officers and sheriffs deputies, has not yet declar-ed a
position.

Jamie Daniels, executive director of WACOPS, sug-gested she might be
involved with a work group that will meet during the summer to
discuss the proposed drug-testing legislation.

Like other law enforcement representatives, Daniels said she remains
concerned about the impact the legislation would have on collective
bargaining law and local labor relations.

Don Pierce, executive director of the sheriffs and police chief's
association, said WASPC's executive board members "are committed to
beginning dialogue with statewide labor groups (namely the Fraternal
Order of Police and WACOPS) with where we go with drug testing."

Although the bill may be dead this session, Yakima city officials and
the police chief are not giving up.

"I am going to personally lobby the Association of Washington Cities
and suggest to the Yakima Valley Mayors Association that they endorse
it," Edler said.

He is also seeking endorsements from the state's numerous Chamber of
Commerce groups, and said Granato and Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin
are working through WASPC to continue pushing the legislation forward.

"There is a real coalition of people that believes this is important,
and will continue to give (it) energy. We don't have any intention of
going away," Edler said.