This bill amends RCW 43.330.545 to continue a department project that funds and administers community engagement work through neighborhood organizing, law enforcement–community partnerships, youth mobilization, and business engagement, and it requires the department to adopt application, grant disbursement, compliance tracking, and outcome measurement policies. It also adds a new section to chapter 43.330 RCW creating a "community immersion law enforcement grant program" administered by the Department of Commerce to place newly hired law enforcement officers in community-based organizations while they await entry to the basic law enforcement academy. The new program is a competitive grant program with eligibility limited to public agencies or nongovernmental organizations with experience in community engagement; law enforcement agencies are barred from being applicants unless no other eligible applicants exist. Grant recipients must lead neighborhood organizing, build substantive law enforcement–community partnerships, mobilize youth, engage businesses in crime prevention, provide training and technical assistance, maintain consistent leadership and an administrative point of contact, and collect and report department-required data. Grants are awarded using a review committee composed of a sheriff or police chief, a law enforcement officer of rank at or below sergeant, and a member of a community-based organization. Program-specific requirements include minimum officer assignments of at least 45 days, a prohibition on payments to participating community-based organizations in excess of $5,000 per participant, allowance to use grant funds to pay overtime to fill vacant patrol shifts while officers participate, and a limit of no more than 5 percent of appropriated amounts for the department’s administration. The department must consult with the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to develop reporting guidelines and must report to appropriate legislative policy committees by December 1 of every odd-numbered year on implementation and outcomes. All program actions are subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for these purposes. Missing details in the provided text include specific appropriation amounts, the precise department named in the amended RCW subsection, the contents of RCW 43.101.200 (basic law enforcement academy timing and eligibility), the substance of the cited city of Kent experience, and whether a prior expiration clause was removed or altered.

If enacted, the state will fund and continue a community engagement project and create a new "community immersion" grant program that places newly hired officers in community-based organizations while they wait to enter the academy. Public agencies and nonprofits with community engagement experience will be the main grant recipients and will be required to lead neighborhood organizing, build sustained partnerships with law enforcement, mobilize youth, engage businesses, provide training, maintain leadership and report data; law enforcement agencies are largely barred from applying unless no other local applicants exist. Grants will be awarded competitively by a review committee, assignments to CBOs must be at least 45 days, payments to CBOs are capped at $5,000 per participant, grant funds can be used to pay overtime to cover vacant patrol shifts, and the administering agencies must adopt policies, track outcomes, and report biennially with guidance from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy. The groups most affected are community-based organizations and nonprofits (who gain new funding opportunities but take on program and reporting responsibilities and are limited to $5,000 per participant), law enforcement agencies (who will more often need to backfill patrol time and may rely on grant-paid overtime), and the state agencies administering and monitoring the programs (which gain new duties but are limited to 5% of appropriations for administration). The programs are explicitly subject to available appropriations, so actual funding levels, scale, and some operational details (such as the academy timing rules referenced and specifics of the Kent model) are unclear and could limit how widely the programs are implemented.