‘I’m in favor of it’: Ursula supports WA proposal to remove decertified sheriffs
Jan 18, 2026, 5:00 AM
A public hearing was held Thursday in Olympia on a new bill that would allow for a sheriff who has lost their peace officer certification to be removed from duty by a state oversight board.
Ursula Reutin, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, supported the proposal. She highlighted that even though it is a rare circumstance, voters still have the right to elect the sheriff.
“I actually think that this is a good way to go about it, because voters are still choosing the sheriff; nothing in this [bill] changes that,” Ursula said. “It cannot just be because I don’t like that person. It has to be a very specific situation, a very narrowly defined situation. I actually am in favor of it.”
KIRO host Gee Scott was lukewarm about the bill, stating that he’s uneasy about having an unelected board holding the power to relieve an elected sheriff of their duties.
“I’m still at the point where I’m 50/50 on if [a sheriff] should be elected or appointed,” Gee said. “In this case, to have an unelected board be the decision maker, taking a sheriff elected by the people, and pulling them out of that position. I think what this does is take more power away from the people. Again, the board, the panel, they are unelected.”
“But if a sheriff loses their peace officer certification, which is spelled out in this bill, that means they are no longer meeting the basic standards required to enforce the law. Do you want someone who cannot legally be a peace officer to still be allowed to run a law enforcement agency?” Ursula asked.
“No, I don’t want the sheriff to continue. However, even though I don’t want that, I could see the other side and still see how this could work in another way,” Gee responded. “Hypothetically, let’s say it’s an unelected panel, and I disagree with those folks, and that unelected panel has the power to eliminate a sheriff that I actually like?”
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.
