(The Center Square) – After adding stronger language, the Spokane Valley City Council passed a proposal Tuesday that fills a hole in state law regarding reckless endangerment with fentanyl.
Endangerment with a controlled substance at the state level comes with a Class B felony, but it only applies to methamphetamine and chemicals used to manufacture the drug. The law doesn’t apply to fentanyl or other opioids, so if officers don’t find meth, they usually rely on other charges.
The council first proposed the ordinance to protect dependent children after two toddlers got into their parents’ stash earlier this year and overdosed. However, that law wouldn’t protect residents who might be inadvertently exposed to narcotics, so the officials decided to bolster the statute.
Tuesday’s version applies to endangering anyone with a controlled substance, and unlike a prior copy, it adds some teeth by imposing mandatory minimums. The Legislature preempts penalties that exceed its own, so the city raised the stakes wherever it could under a gross misdemeanor.
“A mandatory minimum of 90 days for a first offense and 180 days for a second or subsequent offense,” Tony Beattie, senior deputy city attorney, told the council on Tuesday. “This ordinance, along with other iterations, were discussed with the Spokane County prosecutor’s office.”
According to the ordinance, the regional health district recorded 734 emergency room visits for children under 18 years old from 2023 to 2024, and 663 for individuals more than 65 years old.
Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. Veena Singh recorded about 350 overdose deaths last year, a 15% increase over 2023. Overdose deaths have shot up nearly 300% countywide since 2019, with fentanyl-related deaths alone skyrocketing by over 19,000% from 2018 to 2023.
Councilmember Al Merkel asked Beattie about another language change on Tuesday compared to a draft from last month. Beattie had amended “permits” to “causes” any other person to come into contact with narcotics, so Merkel was concerned the law might not cover negligent conduct.
Beattie said the language reflected a consensus with the prosecutor’s office but told the council that he was unable to provide details of those conversations. He said the city could impose the charge when someone “knowingly or recklessly causes,” appeasing some of Merkel’s concerns.
“There’s definitely some legal touchiness to this that involves, you know, ‘Mens rea.’” Merkel said. “In other words, you have to want to commit a crime in order to commit a crime, or at least, you have to be somewhat knowledgeable that your actions might cause a crime, and that’s probably where this distinction comes from.”
“That being said, I am still concerned about this,” he continued, “but I’m willing to vote on it to go forward because we’ll be able to see the results of this action and evaluate at a later time if we feel that it’s not covering all the incidences that we’re looking for.”
