HB 1895 - DIGEST

     Requires that, when interviewing the alleged child victim and child witness, the interviewer must record the interview by the use of videotape, audiotape, or certified court stenographer.

     Requires any agency that conducts a child witness interview, including the department, a law enforcement agency, the county prosecutor's office, or the city attorney's office, to make and maintain a verbatim record or near verbatim record of the interview as required by RCW 26.44.030(10).

     Provides that a person required to maintain investigation records that include verbatim or near verbatim records of child interviews under RCW 26.44.030 and 26.44.035 who knowingly fails to maintain or knowingly destroys those records is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.