Goodman to chair House Public Safety Committee

Published 1:35 pm Friday, January 9, 2015

Rep. Roger Goodman has been reelected by his colleagues to continue chairmanship of the House Public Safety Committee.

“In a heartbeat, a violent crime or a natural disaster can take away everything — your home, your family, your life,” said Goodman (D-45th). “Our state laws must do whatever is possible to prevent crime and respond to floods, wildfires and landslides, because lives are literally at stake.”

Rep. Goodman, who represents Sammamish, began chairing the Public Safety Committee back in 2012 and since then has lead the committee in passing bipartisan legislation to crack down on impaired driving, regulate drones, reform juvenile sentencing, and combat sex trafficking.

“We’ve learned that some things that sound great on TV or in the newspaper actually cost a lot of money and don’t prevent crime at all,” Goodman said. “And we’ve found that things that don’t get the big headlines actually work well to stop crime and save taxpayer dollars. So it’s important to keep trying different options and testing them rigorously, because in the end, we should do what works, not just what sounds good.”

Washington’s criminal justice laws and programs are often picked for review by the state’s Institute for Public Policy, which looks at whether new laws and programs actually reduce crime and whether reforms are cost-effective.

“Criminals should be punished, but if that’s all you focus on, you’re missing the point,” Goodman said. “The best way to tackle crime is to prevent it from happening at all. Police officers and prosecutors like solving a case — but they like it better when they can prevent a bad situation, actually stop crime before it happens, so there’s no crime victim who got hurt or killed.”

In addition to chairing the Public Safety Committee Rep. Goodman will also serve on the Judiciary and Environment Committees.

The Legislature is scheduled to convene on January 12 for a 105-day session.