Spokane Civil Rights Director Jerrall Haynes taken to court for unpaid public disclosure fines

City of Spokane Civil Rights Director Jerall Haynes owes $4,000 in fines that have been sent to collection stemming from failing to submit personal financial statements for three years while an elected member of the Spokane Public Schools Board of Directors.

On Tuesday, Haynes said he only recently became aware of the outstanding fines and violations with the state Public Disclosure Commission for failing to file documents required for elected officials in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

“I was made aware of it a week or two ago, and now I’m trying to resolve this,” Haynes said. “I didn’t know that that violation even existed.”

Haynes was first elected to the Spokane School Board in 2014 and was named board president in 2019. In 2021, then-Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward hired Haynes as Spokane’s first civil rights coordinator, meant to field complaints of civil rights violations and forward them to state and federal resources if appropriate. He was also tasked with building the framework of the city’s Office of Civil Rights, Equity and Inclusion.

In 2023, after a contentious hiring process, Haynes was hired to lead that office as the city’s first civil rights director. Mayor Lisa Brown elevated that role to a cabinet level position as one of her first acts in office.

Haynes was required to publicly disclose his personal finances when he ran for public office in 2014, and again every year he held office. These disclosure forms are intended to show any potential conflicts of interest, said Natalie Johnson, communications specialist for the PDC.

“For example, if a school board member has a stake in a construction company and the district contracts with that company, the (disclosure form) would reveal that conflict of interest,” Johnson said.

Haynes submitted the required documentation when he ran for office, but began to fail to provide them by the required date almost every year thereafter.

He paid a total of $250 in fines for violations in 2016 and again in 2018, each time submitting the required document after being ordered to by the PDC, Johnson noted. The only year when his disclosure documents were submitted on time while he was in office was in 2017.

The financial disclosure Haynes submitted late in 2018 was the last the state received, according to the PDC. He was levied a $1,000 fine in 2020 and a $3,000 fine in 2022, neither of which has been paid. Haynes also did not attend PDC hearings for those violations, though he was sent notices by both email and mail, according to court documents.

The PDC sends multiple reminders to office holders every year before financial disclosure documents are due, Johnson said.

On Feb. 9, collection agency PMT Solutions petitioned Spokane County Superior Court to force Haynes to pay the outstanding $4,000 in fines, plus another $1,800 in fees and interest.

“I don’t know where the mix-up or hangup was, and I don’t know if I overlooked communications, but I didn’t have any prior communication about this,” Haynes said.

Johnson noted that it is not unheard of for a public official to have missed reminders from the PDC.

“We hear a lot about people not checking their emails and then missing these notices,” she said.