CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5654

Chapter 355, Laws of 2006

59th Legislature
2006 Regular Session



CRIMINAL JUSTICE OFFICIALS--PERSONAL INFORMATION



EFFECTIVE DATE: 6/7/06

Passed by the Senate March 7, 2006
  YEAS 46   NAYS 0

BRAD OWEN
________________________________________    
President of the Senate
Passed by the House February 28, 2006
  YEAS 97   NAYS 0

FRANK CHOPP
________________________________________    
Speaker of the House of Representatives


 
CERTIFICATE

I, Thomas Hoemann, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5654 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.

THOMAS HOEMANN
________________________________________    
Secretary
Approved March 30, 2006.








CHRISTINE GREGOIRE
________________________________________    
Governor of the State of Washington
 
FILED
March 30, 2006 - 3:35 p.m.







Secretary of State
State of Washington


_____________________________________________ 

SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5654
_____________________________________________

AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

Passed Legislature - 2006 Regular Session
State of Washington59th Legislature2006 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Senators Prentice, Esser, Oke and Kohl-Welles)

READ FIRST TIME 02/25/05.   



     AN ACT Relating to the privacy of personal information of criminal justice officials; amending RCW 4.24.680 and 4.24.700; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the dissemination of personally identifying information as proscribed in RCW 4.24.680 is not in the public interest.

Sec. 2   RCW 4.24.680 and 2002 c 336 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     ((A person or organization shall not, with the intent to harm or intimidate, sell, trade, give, publish, distribute, or otherwise release the residential address, residential telephone number, birthdate, or social security number of any law enforcement-related, corrections officer-related, or court-related employee or volunteer, or someone with a similar name, and categorize them as such, without the express written permission of the employee or volunteer unless specifically exempted by law or court order.))
     (1) A person shall not knowingly make available on the world wide web the personal information of a peace officer, corrections person, justice, judge, commissioner, public defender, or prosecutor if the dissemination of the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the peace officer's, corrections person's, justice's, judge's, commissioner's, public defender's, or prosecutor's safety or the safety of that person's immediate family and the threat is reasonably apparent to the person making the information available on the world wide web to be serious and imminent.
     (2) It is not a violation of this section if an employee of a county auditor or county assessor publishes personal information, in good faith, on the web site of the county auditor or county assessor in the ordinary course of carrying out public functions.
     (3) For the purposes of this section:
     (a) "Commissioner" means a commissioner of the superior court, court of appeals, or supreme court.
     (b) "Corrections person" means any employee or volunteer who by state, county, municipal, or combination thereof, statute has the responsibility for the confinement, care, management, training, treatment, education, supervision, or counseling of those whose civil rights have been limited in some way by legal sanction.
     (c) "Immediate family" means a peace officer's, corrections person's, justice's, judge's, commissioner's, public defender's, or prosecutor's spouse, child, or parent and any other adult who lives in the same residence as the person.
     (d) "Judge" means a judge of the United States district court, the United States court of appeals, the United States magistrate, the United States bankruptcy court, and the Washington court of appeals, superior court, district court, or municipal court.
     (e) "Justice" means a justice of the United States supreme court or Washington supreme court.
     (f) "Personal information" means a peace officer's, corrections person's, justice's, judge's, commissioner's, public defender's, or prosecutor's home address, home telephone number, pager number, social security number, home e-mail address, directions to the person's home, or photographs of the person's home or vehicle.
     (g) "Prosecutor" means a county prosecuting attorney, a city attorney, the attorney general, or a United States attorney and their assistants or deputies.
     (h) "Public defender" means a federal public defender, or other public defender, and his or her assistants or deputies.

Sec. 3   RCW 4.24.700 and 2002 c 336 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     ((Any law enforcement-related, corrections officer-related, or court-related employee or volunteer who suffers damages as a result of a person or organization selling, trading, giving, publishing, distributing, or otherwise releasing the residential address, residential telephone number, birthdate, or social security number of the employee or volunteer in violation of RCW 4.24.680 may bring an action against the person or organization in court for actual damages sustained, plus attorneys' fees and costs.))
     Any person whose personal information is made available on the world wide web as described in RCW 4.24.680(1) who suffers damages as a result of such conduct may bring an action against the person or organization who makes such information available, for actual damages sustained plus damages in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars for each day the personal information was made available on the world wide web, and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.


         Passed by the Senate March 7, 2006.
         Passed by the House February 28, 2006.
         Approved by the Governor March 30, 2006.
         Filed in Office of Secretary of State March 30, 2006.