House Bill H-3119.2 (House Bill 2651), introduced 01/23/26 and referred to the Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary, would add a new section to chapter 43.43 RCW creating a procedural authority for collecting and retaining certain digital data about federal agents when a complaint of "federal agent misconduct" is received. Under the bill the Washington State Attorney General or a county prosecuting attorney may direct the Washington State Patrol to gather and securely retain "identifying digital data" about the federal agent(s) named in the complaint. The bill defines "federal agent" to include federal law enforcement officers and private contractors hired by the Department of Homeland Security, and it describes misconduct allegations at a high level (including claims involving force, detention, or other actions that give rise to credible complaints of federal constitutional rights violations). "Identifying digital data" is listed to include things like license plate, cell phone, location, GPS, facial recognition, and other recoverable digital information that could help confirm an agent's identity. Complainants may obtain the retained data only by court order issued in a civil case alleging a federal constitutional rights violation by the subject or in a criminal proceeding involving the subject. This bill creates a new procedural authority and data-retention requirement rather than creating a new crime or changing criminal penalties. The text provided does not specify the new RCW section number, retention periods, security or custody standards, methods or legal standards for how the Washington State Patrol must gather the data (for example, whether warrants or third-party cooperation are required), how conflicts with federal law or privacy law are handled, oversight or funding, or any penalties or remedies. The phrase "credible complaint" is used but not defined in the provided text.

If enacted, state attorneys (the attorney general or county prosecutors) would have the option to order the Washington State Patrol to collect and securely hold a wide range of digital records (license plate reads, cell and tower data, GPS, facial recognition results, Stingray data, image searches, and similar recoverable data) whenever they receive a complaint alleging certain federal agent misconduct. That makes the Washington State Patrol responsible for new investigative and evidence-retention tasks and will likely require extra staff time, technical capacity, and cooperation with private carriers or other agencies to obtain those records, though the bill does not specify funding, how long data must be kept, or the legal steps WSP must follow to collect the information. People who file complaints could potentially see identifying digital evidence used against a federal agent, but only if a court orders release of the retained data in a civil suit alleging federal constitutional violations or in a related criminal case, so access requires winning a court order. Federal agents covered by the definition could face more state-level data collection tied to complaints, raising potential privacy or operational-security concerns; however, the measure leaves key implementation questions open—procedures for obtaining the data (warrants or subpoenas), how conflicts with federal or privacy law are handled, oversight, and funding are not specified.