This bill amends multiple existing statutes, adds new sections to several RCW chapters, and repeals several old RCWs to create and update eligibility, certification, background‑check, and oversight standards for sheriffs, police chiefs, and town marshals. It establishes specific eligibility criteria for chiefs and marshals (minimum age 25, high school equivalency, no felony or specified disqualifying convictions, general military discharge if applicable, and typically five years of full‑time law enforcement experience), requires those officials to obtain and maintain Criminal Justice Training Commission certification within nine months of taking office, requires background checks by the appointing authority or Washington State Patrol no earlier than six months before appointment or filing, makes failure to maintain required certification a cause for termination and creates a vacancy that must be filled by someone who meets the statutory requirements. The act creates new procedural requirements for background investigations and employer attestations and amends recordkeeping and public posting duties of the Criminal Justice Training Commission. The bill creates substantive new rules governing use and supervision of non‑peace‑officer personnel (volunteers, youth cadets, and specially commissioned officers) by sheriffs, police chiefs, town marshals, and city/town/coded city law enforcement agencies. It generally prohibits authorizing volunteers or youth cadets to enforce criminal laws, pursue or detain suspects, use force, carry or use firearms or other weapons, use most surveillance technologies, share law‑enforcement database information beyond specified officials, or enforce civil immigration laws unless the person has completed and maintained peace officer certification; it allows certain retired federal LEOSA‑qualified officers to be authorized to carry firearms. It also restricts canine use by non‑peace‑officer personnel to search‑and‑rescue functions only, requires agency policies and local ordinances to define permissible non‑enforcement roles, supervision, training (including weapons training where authorized), and public identification distinguishing these persons from peace officers, and requires affected jurisdictions to adopt or amend ordinances by January 1, 2027 (sections 6, 7, and 10 take effect Jan. 1, 2027; other parts take effect April 30, 2026). The bill strengthens background‑investigation procedures and commission records handling: it requires comprehensive preemployment checks (criminal history including national checks via fingerprints, national decertification index, commission and disciplinary records, prosecuting authority inquiries, a permitted review of social media, verification of citizenship/immigration or DACA status, and possible psychological or polygraph exams under commission rules), makes investigation files confidential and exempt from public disclosure while requiring the commission to publish whether a required background check was completed and passed or failed, directs the commission to maintain a publicly searchable, machine‑readable database with officer names, investigated conduct, dispositions, decertifications and reasons for at least 30 years, and requires reporting decertifications to the national decertification index. The bill also provides immunity for good‑faith information providers, prioritizes training access so chiefs and marshals can certify within nine months, and includes a severability clause. Some text and defined terms are missing from the provided extracts. Definitions referenced as appearing in section 6 and section 10 (such as the full text defining “volunteers” and “youth cadets”), portions of amendments to several RCWs that are cut off mid‑sentence, and the exact language of the emergency declaration and certain procedural deadlines are not included in the extracted facts, so those specific details and any additional provisions or limits that may appear elsewhere in the bill cannot be confirmed from the provided material.

If enacted, the bill raises who can serve as a sheriff, police chief, or town marshal by requiring age, education, criminal history, military discharge, and five years of full‑time law enforcement experience for new appointees, plus certification within nine months. Candidates and appointees must undergo expanded background checks (including checks through the Washington State Patrol and fingerprints to the FBI), with counties or appointing authorities paying those costs for appointees and counties reimbursing patrol costs for elected candidates; the Criminal Justice Training Commission must post and maintain public pass/fail status for candidates and prioritize training access. Failure to obtain or keep required certification creates a vacancy and forces appointing authorities to replace the official, which could cause turnover and require agencies to allocate funds and staff time for background checks, training, and recruitment. The bill also sharply limits what volunteers, youth cadets, and specially commissioned non‑peace officers can do: unless they are certified peace officers, they cannot enforce laws, pursue, detain or arrest, use force, carry weapons, use most surveillance, share law‑enforcement database information beyond a designated supervisor, or use dogs to track or bite; they may continue many non‑enforcement support roles. Cities, towns, and counties must adopt or amend ordinances and agency policies by January 1, 2027, to implement identification, supervision, and training rules (with an exception allowing certain federally qualified retired officers to carry firearms), so local governments and sheriff’s offices will face administrative changes, training and policy costs, and operational limits on current volunteer programs. Some key definitions and the full text of related sections referenced are not included in the provided facts, so precise implementation details and timing for certain duties are uncertain.