Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes issued the following statement after the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that Initiative 27 was outside the scope of local initiative power:
“I’m heartened that a piece of the puzzle to address this ongoing crisis of addiction – Community Health Engagement Locations, or CHELs – remains a viable option. Our state’s highest court appropriately ruled that initiatives can’t change funding decisions already approved by the County Council.
“Much credit is owed to Assistant City Attorney Mike Ryan who ably represented the City at the Supreme Court oral arguments a few short months ago, and to Assistant City Attorneys Erica Franklin and Jeff Slayton who did incredible work developing our legal briefs.
“Whatever next steps the Mayor and Council decide to address the addiction epidemic, my office stands ready to defend their actions in seeking real public health solutions to a public health crisis instead of costly and ineffective over-reliance on the criminal justice system.”