WSR 18-17-158

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE

[Filed August 21, 2018, 12:33 p.m.]

The Washington attorney general routinely publishes notice of an opportunity to comment for opinion requests that we receive from the heads of state agencies, state legislators, and county prosecuting attorneys if we anticipate publishing a formal opinion in response to the request. We do so in order to provide members of the public with a chance to provide any legal analysis that they would like us to consider as we develop our opinion. In preparing any comments, please be aware that our opinion will provide our considered legal analysis of the question presented, and therefore comments that address the interpretation of the law are more helpful than comments that express an opinion as to what the law should be.

If you are interested in commenting on a request listed in this volume of the register, you should notify the attorney general's office of your interest by September 12, 2018. This is not the due date by which comments must be received, and we will consider any comments we receive before we complete our opinion. However, if you do not notify the attorney general's office of your interest in commenting on an opinion request by this date, the opinion may be issued before your comments have been received. You may notify the attorney general's office of your intention to comment by email to OpinionComments@atg.wa.gov or by writing to the Office of the Attorney General, Solicitor General Division, Attention Jeff Even, Deputy Solicitor General, P.O. Box 40100, Olympia, WA 98504-0100. When you notify the office of your intention to comment, you may be provided with a copy of the opinion request in which you are interested, information about the attorney general's opinion process, information on how to submit your comments, and a due date by which your comments must be received to ensure that they are fully considered.

If you are interested in receiving notice of new formal opinion requests via email, you may visit the attorney general's web site at http://www.atg.wa.gov/ago%E2%80%90opinions for more information on how to join our AGO opinions list.

The attorney general's office seeks public input on the following opinion request(s):

1. If a city adopts by reference the state statutes defining misdemeanor crimes instead of enacting its own municipal code, does that act unconstitutionally delegate the city's legislative authority?

2. Is the Washington State Patrol obligated or authorized to accept and test DNA samples taken from individuals convicted of municipal misdemeanors that are equivalent to the state law misdemeanors listed in RCW 43.43.754 (1)(a), but are adopted in the form of independent municipal ordinances?

3. Do municipal offenses constitute prior offenses for purposes of felony prosecution (a) in all cases, (b) only if adopted by "incorporation by reference," or (c) in no cases?

4. Can a municipal sex offense that is equivalent to misdemeanor sex offenses under state statute can be treated as a sex offense for purposes of RCW 9A.44.130 (1)(a) either (a) in all cases, (b) only if adopted by "incorporation by reference," or (c) in no cases?

5. Should convictions for equivalent crimes, whether state, separately-codified municipal, or "incorporated by reference," be identified the same way or differently on criminal histories?