AN ACT Relating to judge impartiality; adding a new section to chapter 2.64 RCW; and providing an effective date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 2.64 RCW to read as follows:

The commission shall discipline any judge who fails to disqualify himself or herself in any proceeding in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned because:

(1) The judge knows or learns by means of a timely motion that a party, a party's lawyer, or the law firm of a party's lawyer has within the previous three years made aggregate contributions to the judge's election in an amount that is greater than fifty dollars; or

(2) When a party or lawyer who made a contribution of fifty dollars or more to the judge's campaign appears in a case, the judge failed to disclose the contribution to the parties. The requirement to disclose shall continue from the time the judge begins a campaign until one hundred eighty days after the judge's election.

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