Flag policy to be reviewed again in Federal Way

Published 4:40 pm Thursday, February 19, 2026

Federal Way is back to the drawing-board on the city’s flag policy once again after a special council meeting held on Feb. 17.

The most recent flag policy decision was made on Oct. 21, and has received pushback as well as some support.

That policy restricted flag-flying by the city to only the United States, Washington state and Federal Way flags as well as the “POW/MIA flag when directed by law to be flown at City Hall” and “military branch flags at the veterans memorial,” according to city documents.

This policy refers only to flags displayed by the city, and has no impact on what flags can be flown on private property in Federal Way, which is governed by the city’s signage code.

On Feb. 17, the Federal Way City Council discussed how to move forward in a way that will balance the celebration of the city’s diverse identity with fairness and freedom of speech. They are weighing three separate questions: first, who should be the one to decide what flags are flown by the city; second, whether City Hall is even the right place to fly those flags; and third, if flags are the best way to accomplish the goal of celebrating the diverse identities of the city.

Ultimately the council decided to ask the Parks/Recreation/Human Services and Public Safety Committee (PRHSPSC) to develop some potential alternative policies and solutions that can be reviewed by existing citizen commissions and then brought to the council.

City Attorney Ryan Call shared a presentation to support an informed discussion of possible policies.

This included an overview of the policies of other local jurisdictions. Some preapprove specific flags and require a vote of council on any other flag requests. In Lacey, for example, preapproved flags include a sister city flag, Progress Pride flag, Juneteenth flag, Nisqually Indian Tribe flag and the Squaxin Island Tribe flag. Any others would have to be approved by a vote of the council.

Other cities have policies similar to Federal Way’s previous policy. In Olympia, flag decisions are made by the city manager, and in Renton, the mayor has discretion over flags flown in the city.

Federal Way’s city attorney also emphasized the importance of having some kind of flag policy because without one, flag flying legally “becomes a public forum, and the U.S. Constitution requires that all requests be honored.” Federal Way does currently have a flag policy, so it is not in danger of running into this issue at this time, but Call made it clear that the more specific a policy is, the more the city is protected from running into free speech issues.

In general, council members agreed that it is important to celebrate and recognize the diversity within the city, but several questioned whether flying flags at City Hall is the best way to do that.

Legally, “any choice about what flags get flown must be made by the government, not the public, to avoid viewpoint discrimination,” according to Call’s presentation, but this would not prevent citizen commissions, like the Diversity Commission or another constituent forum, from providing their feedback and advising the council on those decisions.

For the past several years, the Federal Way has flown community and cultural flags to mark events in the city including the Irish flag for St. Patrick’s Day, the Ukrainian flag honoring the city’s sister city relationship with the city of Rivne, Ukraine, and the Juneteenth and Pride flags, which recognize moments of historical significance in American history, including the ending of legal slavery and the advancement of equal rights for LGBTQ+ community members.

The policy up until Oct. 21, 2025, was that the mayor would make decisions on what flags would be flown at City Hall.

The previous policy stated that the flags are reserved for “expressions of governmental speech that are non-controversial and unifying themes and must be accompanied by a Mayoral Proclamation,” according to city council documents.