6138-S AMH JUD H4422.1

6138-S AMH JUD H4422.1

SSB 6138 - H COMM AMD ADOPTED 03/03/94

By Committee on Judiciary

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

"Sec. 1. RCW 9A.76.020 and 1975 1st ex.s. c 260 s 9A.76.020 are each amended to read as follows:

((Every person who, (1) without lawful excuse shall refuse or knowingly fail to make or furnish any statement, report, or information lawfully required of him by a public servant, or (2) in any such statement or report shall make any knowingly untrue statement to a public servant, or (3) shall knowingly hinder, delay, or obstruct any public servant in the discharge of his official powers or duties; shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.))

(1) A person is guilty of obstructing a law enforcement officer if the person:

(a) Willfully makes a false or misleading statement to a law enforcement officer who has detained the person during the course of a lawful investigation or lawful arrest; or

(b) Willfully hinders, delays, or obstructs any law enforcement officer in the discharge of his or her official powers or duties.

(2) "Law enforcement officer" means any general authority, limited authority, or specially commissioned Washington peace officer or federal peace officer as those terms are defined in RCW 10.93.020, and other public officers who are responsible for enforcement of fire, building, zoning, and life and safety codes.

(3) Obstructing a law enforcement officer is a gross misdemeanor."

EFFECT: The provision is rewritten: (1) To address issues of the constitutional validity of "stop and identify statutes" that were not previously considered by our state supreme court; (2) to delete the provision which provided that a person could be charged with obstructing if the person made an "exaggerated" statement to a law enforcement officer; (3) to correct what appeared to be a grammatical error which had a substantive impact; (4) to redefine "law enforcement officer" to include a broader variety of law enforcement officers, including reserve officers, so the definition would not be overly restrictive; and (5) to increase the penalty from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor.