House Bill 1456 would make multiple changes to state law. It amends RCW 4.24.420 to provide a complete defense to any civil action for damages for personal injury or wrongful death when the injured or killed person was engaged in the commission of a felony at the time and that felony was a proximate cause of the injury or death, and it expressly says nothing in that section affects rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The bill reenacts and amends RCW 10.120.020 to restate and tighten peace officer use-of-force rules, including listing permitted physical-force circumstances, limiting deadly force to situations necessary to protect against an objectively defined immediate threat of serious physical injury or death, imposing duties to use de-escalation when possible, to use the least amount of force necessary, to consider certain vulnerabilities or conditions of the person, to terminate force when no longer necessary, and to prefer less-lethal alternatives; it also bars tactics prohibited by policy or law except to protect life from an imminent threat and establishes objective-reasonableness standards for terms like “necessary,” “reasonable,” and “imminent.” The bill also creates programmatic and administrative changes and new statutory sections. It directs the Traffic Safety Commission, with specifically appropriated funds, to develop and implement a law enforcement appreciation media campaign coordinated with a statewide police and sheriffs association and in consultation with the Washington State Patrol. It authorizes institutions of higher education to pay honoraria to general authority Washington peace officers or State Parks officers for presentations given outside the officer’s official duties, authorizes sheriffs and deputy sheriffs to receive honoraria under the same terms, and amends RCW 43.43.112 to confirm Washington State Patrol officers may take private off-duty law enforcement work subject to chief’s guidelines, treats uniform use as de minimis use of state property, and allows Patrol officers to receive honoraria per the new higher-education provision. The bill further begins to amend park policing authority by vesting police powers in designated State Parks officers under RCW 79A.05.160 and authorizes agreements under RCW 7.84.140 for natural resources, fish and wildlife, and certain tribal officers to enforce specified civil infractions on contiguous or comanaged property. It also amends and restates RCW 42.52.120 to restrict when state officers or employees may have a beneficial interest in contracts or grants and requires filing with the appropriate ethics board in specified circumstances. Several provisions are incomplete or not present in the provided text: the amendment to RCW 79A.05.160 cuts off mid-sentence, section 5 (which is repeatedly referenced for honoraria and eligible employees) is not included, and the full text of the RCW 42.52.120 changes and the items describing the specific “police powers” referenced are not provided here.

If enacted, the bill would likely reduce the ability of people to win money damages in civil suits when the injured or killed person was committing a felony at the time, while simultaneously imposing clearer, duty-based limits on when officers may use force — including an objective test for deadly force and explicit requirements to try de-escalation, use the least force necessary, and consider vulnerabilities like pregnancy or mental impairment. Police agencies should expect to revise policies, train officers on these standards, and make less-lethal options reasonably available, which could change liability exposure, internal discipline handling, and training or equipment costs. The bill also creates new outreach and outside-pay opportunities for law enforcement: the Traffic Safety Commission would run a law-enforcement appreciation media campaign using specifically appropriated funds; colleges, sheriffs, state parks officers, and Washington State Patrol officers could give paid presentations outside their official duties; and the Patrol can permit private off-duty work under chief-approved guidelines. Separate provisions let natural resources, fish and wildlife, and some tribal officers enforce certain civil infractions by agreement. Ethics rules for state contracts and grants are tightened in places (including a 30-day filing requirement), which will add some administrative compliance and require prior consents in specified situations. Several implementation details and key definitions (including the full scope of park police powers, the identity of “the commission,” and text of section 5) are not present in the extracted facts, so exact operational impacts remain uncertain.