The “Blake Fix,” passed the Washington State Legislature and was signed by Governor Jay Inslee on May 16, 2023, with the provisions relating to use and possession of drugs taking effect on July 1, 2023.

Cities must adopt or incorporate state statutes into their municipal code in order to prosecute misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor cases in city municipal court — See City of Auburn v. Gaunt, 174 Wn.2d 321, 274 P.3d 1033 (2012), which held that cities with a municipal court created under chapter 3.50 RCW must prosecute misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors based on city code provisions or RCWs that have been incorporated into the code by reference.

The proposed ordinance adopts gross misdemeanor, misdemeanor, and civil infractions included in SB 5536, which our Municipal Court will have jurisdiction over if adopted by council: These include the following acts:

• Knowing Possession of counterfeit and or controlled substances
• Knowing use of prohibited substances in a public place
• Knowing Possession of legend drugs without a prescription
• Possession of drug paraphernalia

The ordinance also repeals those statutes no longer in affect and the provisions regulating loitering for purposes of drug activity, which is preempted and inconsistent with HB 5536, and includes other housekeeping measures.

If Council wants the crimes listed above to be enforced in the City of Yakima, the recommendation is that the violations be prosecuted within the City of Yakima criminal justice system.  City prosecutors and the Municipal Court are focused on local issues affecting the quality of life in our community.  Filing these cases into the Yakima County District Court (the court with jurisdiction for misdemeanors in the County system) will mean additional jail and probation costs, and court filing fees.  More importantly, the City would lose the ability to control these costs over time.  Due to lack of data, it is difficult to get a quote for these services.

The City Prosecution division has a charging unit and a Community Diversion Program. The charging unit screens cases before filing, avoiding costs on nonviable cases.  The Diversion program will be retooled to handle “Blake” diversions which are encouraged in the legislation. The Municipal Court is seeking to have a more active role in the Community Diversion program which will only strengthen the program.  In contrast, the Yakima County criminal justice system does not have these resources at the District Court level.

The increased caseload, as a result of drug prosecutions may result in additional jail, defense, prosecution, and court costs.  This will depend on the number of stand-alone cases (cases which do not arise with other crimes).  Cases that arise with other crimes will not count as an additional case for defense caseload counts.  With the exception of the defense workload, the city criminal justice system is poised to absorb the increased cases.  Once there is data on the impact, Council can choose to revisit this decision.