CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE relating to the organization of City government; adding data reporting responsibilities to the City Attorney's Office; and adding a new Chapter 3.46 to the Seattle Municipal Code.
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WHEREAS, in 2017, the City Attorney's Office piloted a pre-filing diversion program for a number of misdemeanor offenses for adults aged 18-24 in partnership with the community-based organization Choose 180; and
WHEREAS, the Council provided funding in the 2018 budget for the City Attorney's Office to maintain a pre-filing diversion program; and
WHEREAS, in 2018 the City Attorney's Office began providing pre-filing diversion and relicensing support with the community-based organization Legacy of Equality, Leadership, and Organizing (LELO) for individuals accused of Driving While License Suspended in the 3rd degree; and
WHEREAS, starting in 2021, the City Attorney's Office partnered with the community-based organization Gay City to support individuals aged 18-24 accused of non-intimate partner family-based domestic violence; and
WHEREAS, the Seattle Reentry Workgroup Report, issued in 2018, recommended expanding the use of prefiling diversion to individuals aged 25 and older, and the Council adopted Statement of Legislative Intent CJ-24-A-2 in the 2020 Adopted Budget to request that the City Attorney's Office evaluate the staffing and resources that would be needed to expand diversion to individuals 25 and over; and
WHEREAS, the Council also provided funding for the City Attorney's Office to conduct a Racial Equity Toolkit assessing the concept of expansion; and
WHEREAS, the Council added funding in the 2021 Adopted budget for the City Attorney's Office to expand pre-filing diversion to adults 25 and over; and
WHEREAS, both the City and King County have been integrating approaches to move towards restorative practices focused on repairing the harm caused by alleged criminal activity rat...
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