With Bipartisan Sponsors, Washington Attorney General, Governor Propose Bill to Abolish State’s Death Penalty

With the support of a bipartisan group of state officials and legislators, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson (pictured) and Governor Jay Inslee have proposed legislation to repeal the state’s death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life without parole. At a news conference announcing the bill, Ferguson, a Democrat, was joined by former Attorney General Rob McKenna, a Republican, in calling for abolition. The bill will be sponsored by Republican Senator Mark Miloscia and Democratic Representative Tina Orwall. 

“Legislatures are acting on this important issue with up-and-down votes,” Ferguson said during the news conference. ​“And it’s time for Washington, the state Legislature here, to take that vote.” The state’s death penalty, he said, ​“isn’t working anymore. It is time to move on.” 

Governor Inslee said the evidence about the death penalty ​“is absolutely clear. … Death-penalty sentences are unequally applied in the state of Washington, they are frequently overturned and they are always costly.” Inslee, who imposed a moratorium on executions in 2014 and issued a reprieve to Clark Richard Elmore on December 29, 2016, said, ​“I could not in good conscience allow executions to continue under my watch as governor under these conditions.” 

Washington juries have imposed few death sentence in recent years, and two high-profile murder cases ended in life sentences. In response, the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys called for a voter referendum on the issue. A 2015 Seattle University study examining the costs of the death penalty in the state found that each death penalty prosecution cost an average of $1 million more than a similar case in which the death penalty was not sought. 

Despite bipartisan support, the future of the abolition bill is uncertain. A 2015 repeal bill, also sponsored by Miloscia, never received a committee hearing.