Drafter
Clerk 06/05/2025
Title
AN ORDINANCE imposing an additional sales and use tax of one-tenth of one percent, as authorized in Section 201, Chapter 350, Laws of Washington 2025 for criminal justice purposes; providing for the use of the sales and use tax proceeds for eligible expenditures; and adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 4A.500.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. An adequately funded public safety system is necessary to maintain safe and livable communities.
B. Under Washington state law, counties provide many regional and local services advancing community health and public safety through the criminal justice system.
C. The projected budget deficit within the county's current expense fund threatens the county's ability to provide these services.
D. The county's current expense fund currently anticipates reductions of up to one hundred and fifty million dollars in the 2026-2027 biennium, with further reductions in future biennial budgets, absent new revenues.
E. Through Section 201, Chapter 350, Laws of Washington 2025, the Washington state legislature has allowed a qualified city or county to authorize, by resolution or ordinance, a new sales and use tax of one-tenth of a percent for criminal justice purposes.
F. Under Section 201, Chapter 350, Laws of Washington 2025, the ordinance authorizing the sales and use tax must include a finding that the county has met the requirements to receive a grant from the Local Law Enforcement Grant Program created through Section 101, Chapter 350, Laws of Washington 2025.
G. The county, through its law enforcement agency, the King County sheriff's office, meets the requirements to receive a grant from the Local Law Enforcement Grant Program created through Section 101, Chapter 350, Laws of Washington 2025, having:
1. Issued and implemented policies and practices consistent with RCW 43.17.425 and 10.93.160, and the office of the attorney general's ...

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