Senate Bill 5172, heard at a Local Government, Land Use & Tribal Affairs Committee hearing, would let a fire protection district that has adopted a civil service system dissolve that system if its governing board adopts a resolution and a majority of the district’s civil service employees vote to dissolve the system within 60 calendar days.

The bill’s sponsor and fire district officials told the committee the change targets small, rural districts that say civil service procedures impose delays and administrative burdens that hinder timely hiring of firefighters and chiefs.

Karen Epps, committee staff, told senators that a district may adopt civil service by board resolution if it has a fully paid fire department, and that SB 5172 would add a process for dissolution that requires both a board resolution and a majority employee vote within 60 calendar days. Senator Leonard Christian (4th District), the bill sponsor, said rural departments struggle to complete civil service hiring processes before candidates accept other jobs. Testimony from Spokane Valley Fire Department representatives described recurring vacancies and administrative interruptions tied to civil service boards.

Joe Mann, chair of the civil service commission for Spokane Valley Fire Department, said civil service “is really not adding any value” to their operation and related that his perspective followed training with the law firm Foster Garvey. He and others testified that collective bargaining agreements and modern employment law often duplicate or supersede civil service protections, reducing the distinct value civil service once provided. Fire Chief Frank Soto Jr. said Spokane Valley entered civil service around 1950 and that turnover among civil service commissioners and examiners recently left the district unable to hire for about a year. He and Commissioner Patrick Burch said the bill would not erase existing rules; the department intends to carry civil-service-era provisions forward into local policies, procedures and union contracts rather than abandoning them.

Committee members asked how hiring and promotional functions would operate if a district left civil service. Karen Epps and witnesses said the bill does not specify a new statewide hiring mechanism; Frank Soto Jr. said that existing civil service rules would be transferred into local guidelines and union contracts, and that districts would continue practices intended to preserve fairness and transparency. Staff said they could research how many districts currently operate under civil service; testifiers estimated the number is very small.

The bill’s advocates framed the change as targeted help for a limited set of smaller, rural fire districts that face recruiting hurdles because civil service testing and board processes can be time-consuming. Opponents were not recorded in testimony during the hearing. No formal committee vote was recorded at the hearing.

The committee deferred further action after testimony and questions; the hearing record closed for SB 5172 for that day.