H-5439.1

HOUSE BILL 2969

ByRepresentatives Mead, Irwin, Graham, Orwall, and Macri

AN ACT Relating to housing assistance and relocation support for domestic violence victims; amending RCW 36.18.010, 70.123.010, and 70.123.030; reenacting and amending RCW 70.123.020; and adding a new section to chapter 70.123 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 70.123 RCW to read as follows:

The domestic violence housing assistance and relocation account is created in the state treasury. All receipts from fees imposed for deposit in the housing assistance and relocation account under RCW 36.18.010 must be deposited into the account. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used only for housing assistance and relocation support for domestic violence victims, which may be in the form of travel, reasonable moving expenses, rental assistance, security deposits, utilities, and other costs incidental to the relocation of housing. In emergent conditions, the support may include assistance to keep a person or persons in a residence. Expenditures for relocation and housing expense assistance must be reasonably related to the victimization of a person or persons.

Sec. 2. RCW 36.18.010 and 2019 c 448 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

County auditors or recording officers shall collect the following fees for their official services:

(1) For recording instruments, for the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, five dollars; for each additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar. The fee for recording multiple transactions contained in one instrument will be calculated for each transaction requiring separate indexing as required under RCW 65.04.050 as follows: The fee for each title or transaction is the same fee as the first page of any additional recorded document; the fee for additional pages is the same fee as for any additional pages for any recorded document; the fee for the additional pages may be collected only once and may not be collected for each title or transaction;

(2) For preparing and certifying copies, for the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, three dollars; for each additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar;

(3) For preparing noncertified copies, for each page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar;

(4) For administering an oath or taking an affidavit, with or without seal, two dollars;

(5) For issuing a marriage license((,)):

(a) An eight ((dollars,))dollar fee to be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer and deposited in the state general fund (this fee includes taking necessary affidavits, filing returns, indexing, and transmittal of a record of the marriage to the state registrar of vital statistics); plus ((an additional))

(b) A five dollar fee for use and support of the prevention of child abuse and neglect activities to be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer and deposited in the state general fund; plus ((an additional))

(c) A ten dollar fee to be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer and deposited in the state general fund((. The legislature intends to appropriate an amount at least equal to the revenue generated by this fee for the purposes of the displaced homemaker act, chapter 28B.04 RCW)); plus

(d) A ten dollar fee for deposit into the domestic violence housing assistance and relocation account created in section 1 of this act;

(6) For searching records per hour, eight dollars;

(7) For recording plats, fifty cents for each lot except cemetery plats for which the charge shall be twenty-five cents per lot; also one dollar for each acknowledgment, dedication, and description: PROVIDED, That there shall be a minimum fee of twenty-five dollars per plat;

(8) For recording of miscellaneous records not listed above, for the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, five dollars; for each additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar;

(9) For modernization and improvement of the recording and indexing system, a surcharge as provided in RCW 36.22.170;

(10) For recording an emergency nonstandard document as provided in RCW 65.04.047, fifty dollars, in addition to all other applicable recording fees;

(11) For recording instruments, a three dollar surcharge to be deposited into the Washington state library operations account created in RCW 43.07.129;

(12) For recording instruments, a two dollar surcharge to be deposited into the Washington state library-archives building account created in RCW 43.07.410 until the financing contract entered into by the secretary of state for the Washington state library-archives building is paid in full;

(13) For recording instruments, a surcharge as provided in RCW 36.22.178; and

(14) For recording instruments, except for documents recording a birth, marriage, divorce, or death or any documents otherwise exempted from a recording fee under state law, a surcharge as provided in RCW 36.22.179.

Sec. 3. RCW 70.123.010 and 2015 c 275 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The legislature finds that domestic violence is an issue of serious concern at all levels of society and government and that there is a pressing need for innovative strategies to address and prevent domestic violence and to strengthen services which will ameliorate and reduce the trauma of domestic violence and enhance survivors' resiliency and autonomy.

(2) The legislature finds that there are a wide range of consequences to domestic violence, including deaths, injuries, hospitalizations, homelessness, employment problems, property damage, and lifelong physical and psychological impacts on victims and their children. These impacts also affect victims' friends and families, neighbors, employers, landlords, law enforcement, the courts, the health care system, and Washington state and society as a whole. Advocacy and shelters for victims of domestic violence are essential to provide support to victims in preventing further abuse and to help victims assess and plan for their immediate and longer term safety, including finding long-range alternative living situations, if requested.

(3) Thus, it is the intent of the legislature to:

(a) Provide for a statewide network of supportive services, emergency shelter services, and advocacy for victims of domestic violence and their dependents;

(b) Provide for housing assistance and relocation support for domestic violence victims;

(c) Provide for culturally relevant and appropriate services for victims of domestic violence and their children from populations that have been traditionally unserved or underserved;

(((c)))(d) Provide for a statewide domestic violence information and referral resource;

(((d)))(e) Assist communities in efforts to increase public awareness about, and primary and secondary prevention of domestic violence;

(((e)))(f) Provide for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of current information related to emerging issues and model and promising practices related to preventing and intervening in situations involving domestic violence; and

(((f)))(g) Provide for ongoing training and technical assistance for individuals working with victims in community-based domestic violence programs and other persons seeking such training and technical assistance.

Sec. 4. RCW 70.123.020 and 2015 c 275 s 2 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Community advocate" means a person employed or supervised by a community-based domestic violence program who is trained to provide ongoing assistance and advocacy for victims of domestic violence in assessing and planning for safety needs, making appropriate social service, legal, and housing referrals, providing community education, maintaining contacts necessary for prevention efforts, and developing protocols for local systems coordination.

(2) "Community-based domestic violence program" means a nonprofit program or organization that provides, as its primary purpose, assistance and advocacy for domestic violence victims. Domestic violence assistance and advocacy includes crisis intervention, individual and group support, information and referrals, and safety assessment and planning. Domestic violence assistance and advocacy may also include, but is not limited to: Provision of shelter, emergency transportation, self-help services, culturally specific services, legal advocacy, economic advocacy, community education, primary and secondary prevention efforts, and accompaniment and advocacy through medical, legal, immigration, human services, and financial assistance systems. Domestic violence programs that are under the auspices of, or the direct supervision of, a court, law enforcement or prosecution agency, or the child protective services section of the department as defined in RCW 26.44.020, are not considered community-based domestic violence programs.

(3) "Department" means the department of social and health services.

(4) "Domestic violence" means the infliction or threat of physical harm against an intimate partner, and includes physical, sexual, and psychological abuse against the partner, and is a part of a pattern of assaultive, coercive, and controlling behaviors directed at achieving compliance from or control over that intimate partner. It may include, but is not limited to, a categorization of offenses, as defined in RCW 10.99.020, committed by one intimate partner against another.

(5) "Domestic violence coalition" means a statewide nonprofit domestic violence organization that has a membership that includes the majority of the primary purpose, community-based domestic violence programs in the state, has board membership that is representative of community-based, primary purpose domestic violence programs, and has as its purpose to provide education, support, and technical assistance to such community-based, primary purpose domestic violence programs and to assist the programs in providing shelter, advocacy, supportive services, and prevention efforts for victims of domestic violence and dating violence and their dependents.

(6) "Domestic violence program" means an agency, organization, or program with a primary purpose and a history of effective work in providing advocacy, safety assessment and planning, and self-help services for domestic violence in a supportive environment, and includes, but is not limited to, a community-based domestic violence program, emergency shelter, or domestic violence transitional housing program.

(7) "Emergency shelter" means a place of supportive services and safe, temporary lodging offered on a twenty-four hour, seven-day per week basis to victims of domestic violence and their children.

(8) "Housing assistance and relocation support" means travel, reasonable living expenses, rental assistance, security deposits, utilities, and other costs incidental to the relocation of housing. In emergent conditions support may include assistance to keep a person or persons in a residence.

(9) "Intimate partner" means a person who is or was married, in a state registered domestic partnership, or in an intimate or dating relationship with another person at the present or at sometime in the past. Any person who has one or more children in common with another person, regardless of whether they have been married, in a domestic partnership with each other, or lived together at any time, shall be treated as an intimate partner.

(((9)))(10) "Legal advocate" means a person employed by a domestic violence program or court system to advocate for victims of domestic violence, within the criminal and civil justice systems, by attending court proceedings, assisting in document and case preparation, and ensuring linkage with the community advocate.

(((10)))(11) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department of social and health services or the secretary's designee.

(((11)))(12) "Shelter" means temporary lodging and supportive services, offered by community-based domestic violence programs to victims of domestic violence and their children.

(((12)))(13) "Victim" means an intimate partner who has been subjected to domestic violence.

Sec. 5. RCW 70.123.030 and 2015 c 275 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

The department of social and health services, in consultation with relevant state departments, the domestic violence coalition, and individuals or groups having experience and knowledge of the prevention of, and the problems facing victims of domestic violence, including those with experience providing culturally appropriate services to populations that have traditionally been underserved or unserved, shall:

(1) Develop and maintain a plan for delivering domestic violence victim services, prevention efforts, housing and relocation assistance, and access to emergency shelter across the state. In developing the plan under this section, the department shall consider the distribution of community-based domestic violence programs and emergency shelter programs in a particular geographic area, population density, and specific population needs, including the needs in rural and urban areas, the availability and existence of domestic violence outreach and prevention activities, and the need for culturally and linguistically appropriate services. The department shall also develop and maintain a plan for providing a statewide toll-free information and referral hotline or other statewide accessible information and referral service for victims of domestic violence;

(2) Establish minimum standards for community-based domestic violence programs, emergency shelter programs, programs providing culturally or linguistically specific services, programs providing prevention and intervention services to children or youth, and programs conducting domestic violence outreach and prevention activities applying for grants from the department under this chapter;

(3) Receive grant applications for the development and establishment of community-based domestic violence programs, emergency shelter programs, and culturally or linguistically specific services for victims of domestic violence, programs providing prevention and intervention services to children who have been exposed to domestic violence or youth who have been victims of dating violence, and programs conducting domestic violence outreach and prevention activities;

(4) Distribute funds to those community-based domestic violence programs, emergency shelter programs, programs providing culturally or linguistically specific services, programs providing prevention and intervention services to children or youth, and programs conducting domestic violence outreach and prevention activities meeting departmental standards;

(5) Evaluate biennially each community-based domestic violence program, emergency shelter program, program providing culturally or linguistically specific services, program providing prevention and intervention services to children or youth, and program conducting domestic violence outreach and prevention activities receiving departmental funds for compliance with the established minimum standards;

(6) Review the minimum standards each biennium to ensure applicability to community and client needs;

(7) Administer funds available from the domestic violence prevention account under RCW 70.123.150 to provide for:

(a) Culturally specific prevention efforts and culturally appropriate community-based domestic violence services for victims of domestic violence from populations that have been traditionally underserved or unserved;

(b) Age appropriate prevention and intervention services for children who have been exposed to domestic violence or youth who have been victims of dating violence; and

(c) Outreach and education efforts by community-based domestic violence programs designed to increase public awareness about, and primary and secondary prevention of, domestic and dating violence; and

(8) Receive applications from, and award grants or issue contracts to, eligible nonprofit groups or organizations with experience and expertise in the field of domestic violence and a statewide perspective for:

(a) Providing resources, ongoing training opportunities, and technical assistance relating to domestic violence for community-based domestic violence programs across the state to develop effective means for preventing domestic violence and providing effective and supportive services and interventions for victims of domestic violence;

(b) Providing resource information, technical assistance, and collaborating to develop model policies and protocols to improve the capacity of individuals, governmental entities, and communities to prevent domestic violence and to provide effective, supportive services and interventions to address domestic violence; and

(c) Providing opportunities to persons working in the area of domestic violence to exchange information and resources.

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