RCW 43.101 Permits The Criminal Justice Training Commission To Authorize Counties To Operate And Administer Their Own Basic Corrections Officer Training Academies, But The Commission’s Current Rules Have Not Granted Such Authorization

CRIMINAL JUSTICE TRAINING COMMISSION – COUNTIES – LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS – STATUTORY AUTHORITY – REGULATIONS – RCW 43.101 Permits The Criminal Justice Training Commission To Authorize Counties To Operate And Administer Their Own Basic Corrections Officer Training Academies, But The Commission’s Current Rules Have Not Granted Such Authorization, And Only The Commission Has The Authority To Certify Officers

August 21, 2024

Dear Prosecuting Attorney Manion:

           By letter previously acknowledged, you have requested our opinion on the following question:

May counties operate and administer their own basic corrections officer training academies to both train and certify new corrections officers in accordance with standards established by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC)?

BRIEF ANSWER

           RCW 43.101 permits the CJTC to approve county operated and administered basic corrections training programs, but it does not authorize any agency but the CJTC to certify corrections officers. While the CJTC could allow county-operated and administered basic corrections training programs, it has not yet done so. Thus, if King County could obtain approval from the CJTC, King County could operate and administer its own basic corrections officer training academy, but only the CJTC may certify new corrections officers.

LEGAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

           Before turning to the specifics of your question, a few prefatory points are worth noting. First, as we frequently note, our role in an Attorney General Opinion is to give our best assessment of what the law is, not to opine on what the law should be or the merits of a particular policy. We thus express no view here on how corrections officer training should be conducted. Second, while courts give Attorney General Opinions “some deference[,]” City of Seattle v. Dep’t of Lab. & Indus., 136 Wn.2d 693, 703, 965 P.2d 619 (1998), Attorney General Opinions are not binding on

[original page 2]

courts or others, see id.,^[1] and courts “give[] little deference to attorney general opinions on issues of statutory construction[,]” like this one, ATU Legis. Council of Washington State v. State, 145 Wn.2d 544, 554, 40 P.3d 656 (2002). Thus, if the King County Prosecutor, who asked this question, believes our answer is incorrect, nothing in this opinion requires them to accept our conclusion. With those introductory points aside, we turn to the substance of your question.

           The legislature created the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) in 1974. Laws of 1974, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 94 (hereinafter, this law and its amendments shall be referred to as the “CJTC Act”). It was created to “provide programs and standards for the training of criminal justice personnel.” Laws of 1974, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 94, § 2. “Criminal justice personnel” is an umbrella term that includes peace officers and the corrections officers relevant to your question. Laws of 1974, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 94, § 1(3); see also RCW 43.101.010(5) (defining terms). The 1974 CJTC Act required the CJTC to adopt rules and standards governing the training of certain criminal justice personnel, but did not require that the CJTC provide any such training. Laws of 1974, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 94, § 16. Instead, the CJTC was specifically empowered to “permit required training and education of any criminal justice personnel to be obtained at existing institutions approved for such training by the [CJTC].” Laws of 1974, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 94, § 17.

           In 1977, the legislature amended the CJTC Act to require, among other things, that certain law enforcement personnel (peace officers and the like, not including corrections officers at issue here) “engage in basic law enforcement training which complies with standards adopted by the [CJTC]” and further required that “[t]he [CJTC] shall provide the aforementioned training together with necessary facilities, supplies, materials, and the board and room of non-commuting attendees for seven days per week.” Laws of 1977, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 212, § 2. This amendment was focused primarily on funding the required training, requiring that the CJTC reimburse small law enforcement agencies for temporary replacement officers during the time that the agency’s officers were in training, and further requiring that the cost of training be partially funded through bail forfeitures. Laws of 1977, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 212, §§ 2, 3.

           The CJTC had no responsibility to provide training for corrections personnel until the Corrections Reform Act of 1981, which added language to the CJTC Act for corrections personnel mirroring the 1977 amendment regarding training for law enforcement personnel. Laws of 1981, ch. 136, § 26. As part of a comprehensive package of reforms that, among other things, created the Department of Corrections, the legislature provided that “corrections personnel of the state and all counties and municipal corporations . . . shall engage in basic corrections training which complies with standards adopted by the [CJTC.]”^[2] Laws of 1981, ch. 136, § 26(1). The legislature further directed the CJTC to “provide the training required in this section, together with facilities, supplies,

[original page 3]

materials, and the room and board for noncommuting attendees.” Laws of 1981, ch. 136, § 26(3). The legislature also set out a detailed intent section for the Corrections Reform Act. Laws of 1981, ch. 136, § 2.

           In 2020, the legislature again amended the CJTC Act to require that corrections officers obtain certification from the CJTC “[a]s a condition of continuing employment[.]” Laws of 2020, ch. 119, § 3. It directed the CJTC to “certify corrections officers who have satisfied, or have been exempted by statute or by rule from, the basic training requirements of [the CJTC Act.]” Laws of 2020, ch. 119, § 3(1). This amendment also required that the basic corrections officer training be at least ten weeks in length. Laws of 2020, ch. 119, § 14(1).

           Finally, relevant to your question, the legislature amended the CJTC Act in 2021 to provide that the CJTC “shall have the sole authority to” “provide the [basic law enforcement training]” to “[a]ll law enforcement personnel” but did not make a similar amendment for corrections personnel. Laws of 2021, ch. 323, § 31(2), (1); see also RCW 43.101.010 (defining terms).

           Today, the CJTC offers a variety of trainings to fulfill the basic corrections training requirement, including the Corrections Officers Academy and the Juvenile Corrections Officers Academy. See https://www.cjtc.wa.gov/training-education. It is our understanding that all Washington counties exclusively use the CJTC’s training to certify their corrections officers in compliance with the CJTC Act. You represent that this is King County’s practice as well. You also represent that King County would like to begin offering its own basic corrections training and assure us that any such training “would operate within CJTC standards in order to graduate competent and certified corrections officers.”

ANALYSIS

           Your question requires that we interpret the CJTC Act, codified at RCW 43.101. In statutory interpretation, the “fundamental objective is to ascertain and carry out the Legislature’s intent, and if the statute’s meaning is plain on its face, then the court must give effect to that plain meaning as an expression of legislative intent.” Dep’t of Ecology v. Campbell & Gwinn, L.L.C., 146 Wn.2d 1, 9-10, 43 P.3d 4 (2002). Plain meaning “is discerned from all that the Legislature has said in the statute and related statutes which disclose legislative intent about the provision in question.” Id. at 11. Your question also requires us to interpret the CJTC’s rules. Courts interpret agency rules “pursuant to the rules of statutory construction.” Overlake Hosp. Ass’n v. Dep’t of Health, 170 Wn.2d 43, 51, 239 P.3d 1095 (2010).

           Here, the CJTC Act unambiguously provides that entities other than the CJTC may conduct the basic corrections training. But it is equally clear that only the CJTC has authority to certify corrections officers after completing the required training, and it need not do so where the training has not been approved by the CJTC. The CJTC has adopted rules governing basic corrections training at WAC 139-10. These rules are ambiguous, but we conclude that the CJTC has not currently approved any other organization to conduct the training and instead requires all basic corrections training to be conducted by the CJTC itself. Thus, while the CJTC has the statutory

[original page 4]

authority to allow counties such as King County to administer their own training programs for the purpose of certifying corrections officers, it has not done so, and counties currently may not operate and administer their own training programs in order to certify corrections officers that they employ.

A.        Under the CJTC Act, Agencies and Organizations Other than the CJTC May Conduct the Basic Corrections Training If Authorized by the CJTC

           The CJTC Act gives the CJTC authority to approve basic corrections training conducted by other agencies and organizations and to contract for such training. This necessarily means that agencies and organizations other than the CJTC, including counties, may conduct that training.

           The provisions of RCW 43.101, read together, make clear that the CJTC can approve basic corrections training conducted by other agencies and organizations. For example, RCW 43.101.080(9) gives the CJTC the power to “[r]eview and approve or reject training programs conducted for criminal justice personnel and rules establishing and prescribing minimum training and education standards, including continuing education” (emphasis added). Similarly, RCW 43.101.080(12) gives the CJTC the power to “[i]ssue diplomas certifying satisfactory completion of any training or education program conducted or approved by the commission” (emphasis added). RCW 43.101.170 further gives the CJTC the authority to “permit required training and education of any criminal justice personnel to be obtained at existing institutions approved for such training by the [CJTC].” And RCW 43.101.220(1), which governs training for corrections personnel, requires that the basic education training “compl[y] with standards adopted by the [CJTC].” That would be an odd way to characterize the CJTC’s role if only the CJTC were authorized to conduct the training. The plain language of all these provisions demonstrates that the CJTC may approve training programs conducted by agencies and organizations other than the CJTC.

One possible source of confusion is RCW 43.101.220(2), which states that the CJTC “shall provide the [basic corrections] training”, but in light of the provisions discussed above this language is best understood as directing the CJTC to provide this training, not as prohibiting other entities from also providing such training. This understanding is confirmed by comparing RCW 43.101.220(2) to a similar statute, RCW 43.101.200(3), which governs basic law enforcement training and explicitly specifies that the CJTC “shall have the sole authority” to provide such training. The absence of similar language in RCW 43.101.220(2) strongly supports the interpretation that CJTC can approve corrections training programs offered by others. Perez-Crisantos v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 187 Wn.2d 669, 680, 389 P.3d 476 (2017) (“[W]here the legislature includes particular language in one section of a statute but omits it in another, the exclusion is presumed intentional.”). Within its context, RCW 43.101.220(2) is about which entities bear the costs of the basic corrections training, not the authority to conduct it.

           Interpreting the CJTC Act to allow other agencies and organizations to conduct their own training programs, with approval of the CJTC, is also consistent with the intent of the 1981 Corrections Reform Act, which required basic corrections training in the first place. Part of the

[original page 5]

intent of the Corrections Reform Act was to “provide for prudent management of resources” and to ensure that “local units of government . . . meet their responsibilities to make the corrections system effective.” Laws of 1981, ch. 136, § 2 (codified as RCW 72.09.010(6), (8)). If a government agency or organization has the resources to provide its own basic corrections training, then requiring that the CJTC, and only the CJTC, provide the training would run counter to the purpose of requiring “local units of government” to “meet their responsibilities.” Laws of 1981, ch. 136, § 2 (codified as RCW 72.09.010(6), (8)).

B.        The CJTC Has the Sole Authority to Approve Training Programs and Certify Corrections Officers

           While the CJTC Act permits entities such as King County to provide the basic corrections training, the CJTC must approve the particular training program in order for completion of that training to entitle a corrections officer to certification. This conclusion stems from two exclusive powers of the CJTC: the power to approve training programs and the power to certify corrections officers.

           First, and as described above, the CJTC has the exclusive power to approve training programs as complying with its promulgated standards. See RCW 43.101.080(9), (12); RCW 43.101.170. All corrections officers^[3] must complete or be exempt from the basic training requirements “under rule of the commission” in order to “retain status as a certified . . . corrections officer[.]” RCW 43.101.095(3)(a); see also RCW 43.101.105(3), (3)(a) (permitting the CJTC to “deny, suspend, or revoke certification” where a corrections officer “[f]ailed to timely meet all requirements for obtaining a certificate of . . . corrections training”).

           Second, the CJTC has exclusive authority to certify corrections officers. RCW 43.101.080(2) gives the CJTC the authority to “[g]rant, deny, suspend, or revoke certification of, or require remedial training for, . . . corrections officers under the provisions of this chapter.” “As a condition of employment, all Washington . . . corrections officers are required to obtain certification as a . . . corrections officer or exemption therefrom and maintain certification as required by this chapter and the rules of the [CJTC].” RCW 43.101.095(1). RCW 43.101 does not contemplate the CJTC approving other entities to certify corrections officers as it contemplates the CJTC approving training programs by other entities.

           Instead, the chapter as a whole supports a reading that the CJTC has the sole power to certify corrections officers. For example, RCW 43.101.105 gives the CJTC the power to deny, suspend, or revoke a corrections officer’s certification. No other agency or organization has this power under the statutes. If a county could grant certification, then it would stand to reason that

[original page 6]

the county could also decertify, but that is not the case. Instead, the employer of a corrections officer must request that the CJTC take these actions (RCW 43.101.105(1)), and the CJTC “has sole discretion whether to investigate matters relating to certification, denial of certification, or revocation of certification” (RCW 43.101.145(2)). Similarly, employing agencies and organizations are permitted by statute to make only a conditional offer of employment subject to certification by the CJTC. RCW 43.101.095(2)(a). If the employing agency had the power to certify corrections officers themselves, this limited authority to offer conditional employment would be unnecessary in at least some cases.

           To sum up, the CJTC has the sole power to certify corrections officers and has discretion to approve or reject any basic corrections training conducted by an agency or organization other than the CJTC. See RCW 43.101.080(9), (12); see also RCW 43.101.105(3)(a). The CJTC has discretion, for example, to require that all corrections officers take the basic corrections training from a course conducted and administered by the CJTC in order to be eligible for certification. As set out in the next section, that is exactly what the CJTC has done thus far.

C.        The CJTC Has Not Enacted a Process to Approve County-Conducted Basic Corrections Training and its Rules Do Not Currently Allow for Such Training

           The current rules of the CJTC do not expressly indicate whether a county-operated basic corrections training program could be approved for the purposes of corrections officer certification or how a county might obtain approval for such a training. However, we conclude that the existing rules do not permit such a county-operated training program.

           WAC 139-10-210 requires that corrections personnel “commence training in a basic corrections academy” (emphasis added). It goes on, however, to enumerate several specific courses applicable to different sorts of corrections personnel. WAC 139-10-210(1). Each of these specific courses, identified in WAC 139-10-230, -235, -530, -237, -240, and -245 use the definite article “the” to describe the course. For example, “[a]ll employees whose primary job function is to provide for the custody, safety, and security of adult prisoners in jails and detention facilities must complete the corrections officers academy.” WAC 139-10-230(1) (emphasis added). And “[a]ll employees whose primary job function is the care, custody, and safety of juvenile offenders in county facilities must complete the juvenile corrections academy.” WAC 139-10-240 (emphasis added). The CJTC’s website indicates that it offers training courses with exactly these names. See https://cjtc.wa.gov/training-education. On its website for the corrections officer academy, the CJTC instructs that it “must be completed within six months of hire by all full time corrections employees of a city, county, or political subdivision of the state of Washington per WAC 139-10-210, []-220 and RCW 43.101.220.”^[4] https://www.cjtc.wa.gov/training-education/corrections-officers-academy. A similar statement appears for the juvenile corrections officers academy, and each of the other courses identified as basic corrections training programs in

[original page 7]

WAC 139-10. See https://cjtc.wa.gov/training-education. The most logical reading of these rules, therefore, is that the CJTC requires corrections officers to take the specific courses offered at the CJTC.

           Additionally, nowhere in WAC 139-10 has the CJTC enacted a rule governing how a county might apply for and receive approval to conduct basic corrections training. Nor has the CJTC enacted a rule specifying its training standards in anything more than a general way. WAC 139-10-230, -235, -530, -237, -240, and -245, for instance, describe the various basic corrections training courses with a short list of “subject matter areas” that they “may include” but are not limited to. The CJTC has also published a policy manual. See https://cjtc.wa.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2023-w…. But this manual directs the CJTC’s internal operations only and does not address how a county might apply for and receive approval to offer the basic corrections training. The CJTC also publishes syllabi for its courses. See, e.g., https://cjtc.wa.gov/docs/default-source/course-required-forms/coa-400-h…. But again, the syllabi are brief summaries, merely naming subject areas and the number of hours associated with them. See, e.g., id. There are no learning standards, objectives, or evaluation criteria. E.g., id.

           These authorities indicate that the CJTC has not exercised its discretion to allow any entity but itself to conduct the basic corrections training. Therefore, while RCW 43.101 permits the CJTC to exercise its discretion to allow King County to conduct the basic corrections training required by RCW 43.101.220 and .105, the CJTC has not done so, and King County does not have the authority to conduct that training for the purpose of certifying its corrections officers without the CJTC’s approval. We express no view here on the various mechanisms the CJTC might use to allow county operated basic corrections training programs, such as rule, contract, or other means.

           We trust that the foregoing will be useful to you.

ROBERT W. FERGUSON

  Attorney General

WILLIAM MCGINTY

  Assistant Attorney General

wro