Today's headlines.
- The Spokane County Sheriff's office has temporarily stopped using its license plate reader system in response to a new state law. Agencies across Washington are following suit.
- Spokane, Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry County sheriffs sue WA to block new eligibility requirements for law enforcement leaders
- The Spokane Police Department's new gun crime unit is taking shape in northeast Spokane.
- Crimes against cannabis retailers are chronically underreported to the Washington Liquor and Cannabis board. That makes it harder for law enforcement to track patterns across the state.
- ID Democrats say this year's budget cuts were unnecessary and harmful after years of tax cuts.
- Officials warn low snowpack means Northwest residents should prepare for a bad wildfire season.
Plus, Washington's legislature is in session just a few months per year. Most lawmakers have day jobs on the side. State Government Reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan asks whether the state should operate this way—in the middle of a Centralia forest.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting contributed by Amy Radil, Owen Henderson, Eliza Billingham, James Dawson, John Ryan, Sarah Mizes-Tan
The show is hosted and produced by Owen Henderson. Eliza Billingham provided digital support.
TRANSCRIPT
[THEME MUSIC]
OWEN HENDERSON: From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
I’m Owen Henderson. It’s Monday, April 6, 2026.
On today’s show, law enforcement leaders across Washington are reacting to new regulations signed into law last week. Some are turning off automated license plate readers, and four northeastern Washington sheriffs are suing the state.
And after this winter, fire officials are warning the relatively low snowpack means Northwest residents should prepare for a bad wildfire season.
Plus, most Washington lawmakers have other jobs when they’re not in Olympia. But some are pushing for the legislature to be a full-time gig.
State government reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan walks us through the arguments for and against that change.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
The Spokane County Sheriff's office has temporarily stopped using its license plate reader system, in response to a new state law.
Other policing agencies in western Washington are taking the same steps.
KUOW’s Amy Radil has more.
AMY RADIL: Some police vehicles have dashboard cameras that flag license plates associated with missing persons and stolen cars. But a new state law forbids license plate readers in locations related to immigration matters, reproductive healthcare, schools and places of worship.
PADILLA: “We suspended our mobile license plate readers because we could not ensure that they wouldn’t incidentally capture license plates in those restricted, protected areas.”
AR: That’s Kent police chief Raphael Padilla. He says Kent still has fixed cameras made by Flock, but they can’t use the vehicle systems made by Axon for now.
In Seattle, city council member Bob Kettle says the city has also suspended the automated license plate readers in its vehicles.
KETTLE: “First thing is working with Axon to ascertain what is the art of the possible from a technology point of view.”
AR: He says the suspension makes sense but will hinder police work in the meantime.
A Seattle police spokesperson said officers are typing license plate numbers manually which provides the same results, just much slower.
I'm Amy Radil reporting.
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OH: Four eastern Washington sheriffs are suing the state over a new law that tightens eligibility requirements for law enforcement leaders—and creates a new path for removing those leaders.
The sheriffs of Spokane, Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry Counties filed suit Friday, asking the court to prevent the state from enforcing the law that the governor signed last week.
They say the measure violates the state’s constitution, arguing it takes power from voters who elect sheriffs—and gives it to a state criminal justice commission, which can revoke a sheriff’s certification under the law.
An initial hearing in Pend Oreille County Superior Court is set for next Friday.
— — —
A specialized gun crime unit is shaping up in the Spokane Police Department.
Police Chief Kevin Hall told City Council last week he’s selected Lieutenant Chris McMurtrey and Captain Shawn Kendall to supervise the new tactical investigations unit.
He and his staff are now selecting three patrol officers and three detectives for the team.
The unit will work out of the northeast precinct from late afternoon to almost 3 in the morning.
Those are the hours when violent gun crime typically happens.
But Chief Hall says they’ll also be tasked with getting to know their community—especially the neighborhood kids.
KEVIN HALL: “They are to proactively identify and disrupt violent gun offenders, proactively identify and engage opportunity youth to prevent future incidents. I’ve said it before here, you've heard me say it over and over and over, gun violence is a social contagion. If we can interrupt that contagion and stop shootings before they happen and stop young people from being victims or offenders before that occurs, that's the goal.”
OH: Hall says the unit will be a pilot program for the rest of the year.
The initial goal is to reduce gun crime by 10 percent by the end of this year.
— — —
Cannabis retailers in Washington are one of the most frequent targets for theft and other crime.
But law enforcement officials say businesses typically don’t report break-ins to the state Liquor and Cannabis Board.
The LCB’s Lieutenant Lou D’Amelio told board members last week that can make it difficult to track down the perpetrators.
LOU D’AMELIO: “Local law enforcement, when investigating these crimes, often doesn't share well across jurisdictional or geographical boundaries. And so, we would have a situation where one law enforcement agency investigating a crime at a licensed location was unaware that similar crimes had occurred maybe right next door or across the state.”
OH: D’Amelio says part of the problem is education.
Retailers may not realize local law enforcement typically doesn’t notify the cannabis board.
They may also worry that reporting theft will affect their insurance. D’Amelio says it definitely won’t.
LCB officers now have checklists to give licensed retailers, so they know who to contact in case of a break-in.
He’s also created an information-sharing group to assist local law enforcement and draw a more accurate picture of crime across the state.
— — —
Idaho Democrats say budget cuts passed during this year’s legislative session were avoidable and will hurt the state’s most vulnerable residents.
James Dawson reports.
JAMES DAWSON: Senate Democratic Leader Melissa Wintrow opened her party’s post-session press conference riffing off of Gov. Little’s quote “Enduring Idaho” budget proposal made earlier this year.
MELISSA WINTROW: “Idahoans have endured a lot this session. Broken promises, bad budgeting, culture war distractions and poor governing dressed up as leadership.”
OH: Most state agencies saw a 5% cut to their budgets as Republicans worked to avoid a projected deficit. GOP leaders say the economy softened a bit after they implemented multiple years of income tax cuts.
Republican leadership traditionally also holds an end-of-session press conference, but no one showed up Friday morning and messages weren’t returned.
All 105 legislative seats are up for grabs this year, with the primary election set for next month.
James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News.
— — —
OH: Get ready for a busy fire season this summer. A low snowpack has primed the Northwest to turn dry and fire-prone earlier than usual this year.
KUOW’s John Ryan reports.
JOHN RYAN: Snow shortages in Washington and around the West have fire experts bracing for a bad year for wildfires.
Karin Bumbaco is Washington’s deputy state climatologist.
BUMBACO: “ When we have low snow pack years, we tend to have worse fire seasons because you have a longer of opportunity for those fires to get started and to spread when the snowpack melts out sooner than normal.”
JR: Snowpack in Washington’s mountains was nearly half below normal levels as of Friday. Oregon’s snowpack was 80 percent below normal.
Federal fire officials expect eastern Washington and Oregon will start at high fire risk as early as June, with fire hazards getting worse and spreading to southwest Oregon in July.
Other parts of the West have severe snow droughts too.
That means smoke from other states’ fires has a good chance of darkening Northwest skies.
I'm John Ryan, reporting
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
Washington's legislature is in session just a few months per year. Most lawmakers have day jobs on the side.
State Government Reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan went to a forest in Centralia to find out why the state operates this way… and whether it’s time for a change.
[HIKING SOUNDS AMBI]
SARAH MIZES-TAN: It’s a rainy day shortly after the legislative session has wrapped, and Rep. Ed Orcutt is taking me deep into a grove of Douglas firs…
ED ORCUTT: We’re on an old access road, and we’ll just get up into the timber unit and then we’ll dive off into the woods and start taking some measurements.
SMT: Orcutt is a Republican and a forester by trade. He’s taking me out to measure the width of tree trunks.
In his hiking boots and rain gear, he looks pretty different from the way he did just a month ago in a suit on the floor of the House of Representatives.
EO: “If I have a big tree, I can just hook into it…”
SMT: Most of the state’s lawmakers work a day job for about nine months of the year. One is a bison rancher, others are lawyers, some are small business owners.
Washington has always had a part time legislature.
When this rule was created, many elected officials were farmers, so the short calendar allowed them to be back home to harvest their crops.
There’s only a couple farmers left, but the rule still stands.
EO: “I think the fact that we come and we do the legislative session, we get done, we go back into our communities, we go back to our homes, we go back to our jobs. That's what keeps us grounded and helps us remember why we're there in the first place, right?”
SMT: Washington’s not unusual. Most state legislatures meet part-time too.
In odd-numbered years, Washington’s session is 105 days.
But in even-numbered years, like this one, it’s even shorter. Just 60 days long.
And some people wonder if the state’s issues are getting bigger than that time allows.
This year, for example, lawmakers passed a historic income tax on high earners during the breakneck short session.
VILLENEUVE: “Last year I heard this was the most brutal session ever, and this year, I heard that again, every session is going to be the most brutal session ever. And that's really going to wear people down and make them think, Gosh, why are we doing this to ourselves? There's gotta be a better way.”
SMT: That’s Andrew Villeneuve, founder of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
He says legislators should be full-time if they’re going to do this job right.
AV: “It's quaint to think that you have a part time legislature. So even if we want to think our of our legislature as that, it's just not that. Legislators are constantly being asked to go to things during the interim, and so they don't really get a break from legislating.”
SMT: Right now, lawmakers who want a longer session would have to amend the state constitution.
Villeneuve’s group proposed an easier way this year. But it stalled in committee.
Other recent attempts haven’t gone anywhere either.
Democrat Bob Hasegawa tried last year with a bill of his own.
He says he feels too rushed to make policy decisions.
BOB HASEGAWA: “Without the time to critically analyze each piece of legislation that we're voting on, we absolutely do not have time to think about the future of what does should Washington look like?”
SMT: Hasegawa was a commercial trucker when he got elected to represent Renton and Tukwila.
He says he couldn’t do both jobs, but at least he has a pension to supplement his part-time income.
BH: “You pretty much have to take a vow of poverty to do this job, unless you are independently wealthy or carried by some corporation that's willing to give you as much time off as you need.”
SMT: Shaun Scott is a Democrat who represents part of Seattle.
After he was elected two years ago, he struggled to balance his job at an environmental justice organization. But so far, he’s managed to keep it.
SHAUN SCOTT: “My thing is, if you don't feel that there's enough time in the state legislative session, or you don't feel like it pays enough, then maybe it's time to step aside for somebody who actually does have the resources to make the most of the position.”
SMT: Still, there’s momentum for more flexibility in the length of the legislative session. The issue will probably surface again next year—if there’s time.
In Olympia, I’m Sarah Mizes-Tan.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Amy Radil, Eliza Billingham, James Dawson, John Ryan, Sarah Mizes-Tan and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
