Authorizing Attorney General investigators as limited peace officers

House Bill 2165 gives the Attorney General’s Office a new layer of law-enforcement-style authority by allowing certain investigators to be designated as limited authority Washington peace officers for the purpose of investigating economic and financial crimes. While the bill says these investigators cannot arrest or detain people and may not carry weapons, it still expands the Attorney General’s role beyond its traditional civil and legal functions and further inserts the office into criminal investigative work.

The bill also allows these investigators to serve search warrants electronically on businesses once a judicial officer approves the warrant. Even with those limits, the bill creates new investigative authority for the Attorney General’s Office and moves the state further toward concentrating more power in an office that is already growing in reach and influence.

Why is this a bad policy?

• Expands the Attorney General’s power into criminal-style investigations. This bill gives the Attorney General’s Office a new enforcement role by authorizing its investigators as limited peace officers, further blurring the line between legal oversight and criminal investigation.
• Continues the steady growth of power in one statewide office. Even if the authority is labeled “limited,” the bill still gives the Attorney General’s Office a broader operational role in policing financial and economic crimes.
• Creates new search warrant authority for AG investigators. The bill authorizes those investigators to serve search warrants electronically on businesses, adding another enforcement tool to an office that already has substantial legal authority.
• Risks mission creep over time. Bills like this are often presented as narrow and technical, but once new authority is granted, future Legislatures can expand it further. What begins with economic and financial crimes can later become the foundation for broader enforcement roles.
• Builds a larger enforcement structure instead of focusing on existing agencies. Washington already has law enforcement agencies with criminal investigative authority. This bill grows the Attorney General’s Office instead of relying on existing institutions with clearer public safety roles and accountability structure.
• Adds more government authority without a clear public need. Supporters may frame this as modest, but it still reflects a broader pattern of expanding government power first and asking questions later.

Bottom line

HB 2165 gives the Attorney General’s Office new peace officer-style authority and expands its role in criminal-style investigations. Even with some limits, it moves Washington in the wrong direction by concentrating more enforcement power in a single statewide office.