HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1058

As Passed Legislature

Title: An act relating to editorial standards for the publication of the Revised Code of Washington.

Brief Description: Revising editorial standards for the RCW.

Sponsors: Representatives Goodman and Rodne; by request of Statute Law Committee.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:

Judiciary: 1/12/09, 1/15/09 [DP].

Floor Activity

Passed House: 2/27/09, 94-0.

Passed Senate: 4/10/09, 43-0.

Passed Legislature.

Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 10 members: Representatives Pedersen, Chair; Goodman, Vice Chair; Rodne, Ranking Minority Member; Shea, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Flannigan, Kelley, Kirby, Ormsby, Roberts and Warnick.

Staff: Courtney Barnes (786-7194)

Background:

The Office of the Code Reviser (Code Reviser) was created in 1951. The Code Reviser is a legislative agency whose responsibilities include:

• codifying, indexing, and publishing the Revised Code of Washington, including harmonizing the statutes through administrative changes or suggested legislation;

• drafting bills on behalf of legislators, legislative committees, joint committees, state elected officials, and agencies;

• acting as the repository for various documents related to administrative rulemaking; and

• publishing a variety of rulemaking-related publications, including the Washington Administrative Code and the Washington State Register.

The Code Reviser codifies into the Revised Code of Washington all enacted laws of a general and permanent nature. The Code Reviser is allowed to edit and revise these laws for consolidation into the code to the extent deemed necessary or desirable by the Code Reviser. The Code Reviser may only make changes that are authorized by statute and do not change the meaning of the law.

Summary of Bill:

The provision is removed that gives the Code Reviser the authority to divide long sections of a law into two or more sections. The Code Reviser may alphabetize definition sections when doing so will not change the meaning or effect of such sections.

Unless it may be necessary to retain the following information to determine the full intent of the law, the Code Reviser is given the authority to:

• omit severability clauses;

• remove annotations that have appeared in the published Revised Code of Washington for more than 10 years; and

• omit section captions, part headings, subheadings, tables of contents, and indexes appearing in legislative bills.

Annotations that have appeared in the published Revised Code of Washington for more than 10 years will be retained and available in the electronic copy of the Revised Code of Washington, which is available on the Code Reviser's website.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony:

(In support) This bill permits the Code Reviser to remove aged annotations from the Revised Code of Washington. It is an environmentally friendly bill. The code is growing so large that a new volume will be added if the Code Reviser is not given the authority to remove the old annotations. By giving the Code Reviser the authority to remove aged annotations, the bill helps stabilize the size of the printed code. Omitted annotations are retained in the electronic version of the code. The session laws and private annotations also have this information.

(Opposed) None.

Persons Testifying: Representative Goodman, prime sponsor; Kyle Thiessen, Code Reviser and Statute Law Committee.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.