The bill creates a new office of an independent prosecutor placed in the governor’s office and adds sections to chapter 43.06 RCW. The governor appoints and sets compensation for the independent prosecutor, who serves a three-year term (and continues until reappointed or succeeded) and may be removed for misconduct or inability to perform duties, with an interim appointment required within 24 hours of a vacancy. The independent prosecutor is authorized, upon written request of the governor, to review and to prosecute investigations of an involved officer’s use of deadly force that results in death, may exercise concurrent authority with county prosecuting attorneys (including appeals and postconviction relief), may prosecute related offenses arising from those investigations, and must provide written charging determinations to the attorney general and the local prosecuting authority. The office may hire staff, appoint assistants, employ interns, is responsible for prosecution-related costs (with reimbursement subject to RCW 9A.16.046), must keep victims or survivors apprised of rights under RCW 7.69.030, and enjoys liability protection for good-faith acts in execution of duty. If competing charging documents are filed by the attorney general, a county prosecuting attorney, and the independent prosecutor, courts must decide which prosecution best promotes the interests of justice and dismiss the others. The independent prosecutor must begin annual reporting to legislative committees on July 31, 2026, and annually thereafter. The act also modifies existing procedures and agency duties. Prosecuting attorneys who decline to file charges after reviewing a deadly-force investigation must notify the independent prosecutor in writing within 30 days. It amends duties of the director under chapter 43.102 RCW to develop regional investigation teams, a prompt notification and reporting system for deadly-force incidents, investigation procedures and public/family communication plans, staffing and training plans (plans due by February 1, 2022 and training to begin before July 1, 2022), and a proposal by December 1, 2025 to train non-law-enforcement investigators with an objective that, within five years of the office beginning investigations, deadly-force cases will be investigated by non-law-enforcement investigators. The bill requires that deadly-force incidents resulting in death, substantial bodily harm, or great bodily harm be subject to an independent investigation separate from the involved agency and consistent with chapter 43.102 RCW, and that entities conducting such investigations provide completed investigations to the prosecutorial entity and to the independent prosecutor. This is primarily a procedural and administrative change establishing a new prosecutorial office, investigatory requirements, notice and reporting obligations, and agency duties; it does not create a new crime or change criminal penalties in the extracted text. Important context is missing: the provided excerpts do not include statutory definitions for key terms such as “involved officer” or “use of deadly force,” the text of the amended subsections in RCW 36.27.020 is truncated, and the full amended language for RCW 43.102.050 and RCW 10.114.011 and other possible transitional or effective-date provisions are not included in the extracts.

If enacted, the bill creates a new independent prosecutor in the governor’s office who will review investigations of officer use-of-deadly-force cases that result in death and, when the governor requests in writing, take over charging and prosecuting those cases (including related offenses and appeals). County prosecutors must notify this independent prosecutor within 30 days if they decline to file charges, and if both state and local prosecutors file competing charges a court will choose which prosecution proceeds. Practically, counties remain responsible for court administration and public defense costs for defendants who qualify, while the independent prosecutor’s office pays prosecution-related expenses, and victims and families must be kept informed. The bill also directs the state investigatory office under chapter 43.102 RCW to build regional investigation teams, require independent investigations of deadly-force incidents that cause death or serious harm, set up prompt reporting and tribal notification rules, and develop a plan to move to non-law-enforcement investigators within five years (with a training proposal due by December 1, 2025). Important implementation details are unclear from the provided text—terms like “involved officer” and “use of deadly force,” portions of the prosecutorial recusal rule, and timing or transitional steps are missing—so the exact scope, start date, and how responsibilities will be coordinated in practice remain uncertain.