What is this?
By Bryan Dominique, Communications Manager
Office of the Pierce County Council
If legislation were sentient, it would be friends with Sasquatch—rumored to exist, blurry in every photo, and always just out of reach.
Most people don’t go looking for legislation until something weird lands in their lap, like a mobile opioid treatment unit handing out FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder in your rural neighborhood. Then curiosity turns into a crusade: Where did this come from?
But tracking down legislation from even a month ago, let alone last year, is like shouting into the bureaucratic abyss. These once-alive pages: debated, amended, codified – now rest in digital tombs no one visits, gathering virtual dust while the world keeps moving.
I get calls and emails like this all the time:
Community member: Why is this happening?
Me: The Council passed it in the biennial budget, approved funding, and now departments are implementing it.
Community member: Yeah, but when? And how do I learn more?
Me: Visit piercecountywa.gov/legislation and look up [insert legislation number here].
Community member: Okay… there’s a lot there.
Me: Here, check out the staff report. It usually summarizes things very well.
Community member: So, how would I know to do any of this?
Me: That, my friend, is the question.
And that’s what I’m going to attempt to answer today. Since the Council just recently approved funding for a new Mobile Opioid Treatment Program that will bring life-saving medication and recovery services directly to communities across the county, we’ll use that as our map.
Ordinances
Think of these as laws. Ordinances are how the Council appropriates funds, amends the County Code, sets fees, adopts zoning changes, and enacts statutes that carry the force of law. All of these require transmittal to the County Executive for signature. They always look something like this: O2025-500. The “O” for ordinance, followed by the year and number, that starts at 500 and resets at the beginning of each calendar year.
For the Mobile Opioid Treatment Program, this story began in Fall 2024, when the Council passed Ordinance No. O2024-568s2, which amended the 2024-2025 Biennial Budget. Buried in that budget was a small but powerful paragraph authorizing $2 million from the County’s Opioid Settlement Fund for “mobile opioid treatment programs.”
The ordinance even noted that this appropriation wasn’t bound by the usual Behavioral Health Improvement Plan priorities—an early hint that something different was being built here. While the ordinance didn’t name a program or provider, it created the legal authority for the funds to support mobile opioid treatment.
Resolutions
These don’t carry the same legal weight as ordinances, but they move administrative processes forward. They set policy direction, appoint people to boards and commissions, authorize the release of certain funding, or declare the Council’s position on an issue—say, a new airport proposal in rural Pierce County. They don’t need the Executive’s signature and usually take effect immediately. You’ll recognize them by their format: R2025-100. The “R” for resolution, followed by the year and number that starts at 100 and resets at the beginning of each calendar year.
About 10 months after the ordinance passed that created the funding for a mobile opioid treatment program, the Human Services Department developed the actual plan. They wrote a Request for Proposals, evaluated applicants, and brought their recommendation back to the Council. That’s when the Council adopted Resolution No. R2025-196, officially approving expenditures from the Opioid Settlement Fund to create and operate the Mobile Opioid Treatment Program.
In other words:
- The ordinance authorized the funds
- The resolution released the funds
Proclamations
These are the ceremonial cousins to Resolutions. They don’t carry the same authority as legislation, but they are official recognitions that celebrate, commemorate, or call attention to an issue or person. They don’t create policy, but they do help define the institution’s values.
For example, on August 5, 2025, the Pierce County Council and Executive issued a joint proclamation proclaiming August as Overdose Awareness Month. It included this excerpt:
the Pierce County Council has made significant and strategic investments to help treat substance use disorder, including more than $3.2 million from opioid settlement and federal grant funds to launch up to two fully equipped mobile opioid treatment vehicles to bring life-saving medications, counseling, peer support, and health services directly to underserved areas across the county…. These mobile units are part of a broader commitment by Pierce County to expand equitable access to care, especially in rural regions where traditional service sites may be out of reach.
So, that’s how it all connects. Once the Council passes something—say, an ordinance that authorizes funding for mobile opioid treatment units in rural communities—the Executive Branch takes over. Staff draft a request for proposals (RFP), release it to potential providers, review the submissions, and then make funding recommendations back to the Council. What started as a few lines in a budget document becomes a living, breathing service.
And that’s the through-line: what begins as words on paper eventually becomes action in the world. The hard part is finding that thread before it disappears back into the forest.