H-1859

AN ACT Relating to training for investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases; adding new sections to chapter 36.27 RCW; creating new sections; and making appropriations.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. FINDINGS. The safety of all children is enhanced when sexual assault cases are properly investigated and prosecuted. The legislature finds that sexual assault cases, particularly those in which children are victimized, are difficult to prosecute successfully. Successful prosecution of sexual assault cases requires that the prosecutors and investigators have a high degree of training and skill in handling sexual assaults. The legislature further finds that in the less populated areas of the state, it is difficult for local prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to obtain the needed specialization to handle these cases. Therefore, the legislature intends to establish a mechanism to provide the training and special investigators to more effectively prosecute these cases.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. TRAINING FOR INVESTIGATING AND PROSECUTING. (1) Each year the criminal justice training commission shall offer an integrated, intensive, week-long training session on investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases for up to twenty prosecuting attorneys and deputy prosecuting attorneys, twenty public defenders, and twenty police officers. The training shall place particular emphasis on the development of professionalism and sensitivity towards the victim and the victim's family during the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases involving child victims.

(2) The commission shall seek advice from the Washington association of prosecuting attorneys, the Washington defender association, the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs, and the Washington coalition of sexual assault programs in planning the curriculum and recruiting faculty for this program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. SEXUAL ASSAULT PROSECUTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. (1) There is created in the department of community development the sexual assault prosecution assistance program to assist county prosecuting attorneys in the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault and child abuse cases, primarily for those cases involving child victims. The department of community development shall contract with the Washington state association of prosecuting attorneys to employ a project coordinator who shall be responsible for the hiring, training, assignment, and overall supervision of investigators.

(2) The department of community development shall contract with the Washington state association of prosecuting attorneys to employ ten investigators who shall be assigned to a prosecuting attorney and shall be under the supervision of the project coordinator. The investigators shall be specially trained in investigating sexual assault cases, with primary focus on those cases involving child victims. The project coordinator shall assign each investigator to a prosecuting attorney in areas of the state where law enforcement officers who specialize in investigating child sexual assault or abuse are not available. The prosecuting attorney shall be responsible for the daily supervision of the investigators and may agree to make the investigator available for investigations on a regional basis and may be made available to child protective services, if requested.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. SEXUAL ASSAULT COMMITTEE. A state-wide committee on sexual assault is established solely to oversee the sexual assault prosecution assistance program created in section 3 of this act. The committee shall be comprised of three prosecuting attorneys, two police detectives specializing in the investigation of sexual assault cases involving child victims, one representative of the department of social and health services, a representative of the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs, two representatives from the Washington coalition of sexual assault programs, and four legislators, two from each house, one from each caucus. The committee shall oversee the program and provide advice to the project coordinator.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. LEGAL ADVOCATES. The department of social and health services shall provide up to one legal advocate per sexual assault program that qualifies for funding under the victims of sexual assault fund. The legal advocates shall have completed a training program to be designed and administered by the Washington association of prosecuting attorneys and the Washington coalition of sexual assault programs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 2 through 5 of this act are each added to chapter 36.27 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Section headings as used in sections 2 through 5 of this act do not constitute any part of the law.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. The sum of ninety thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1993, from the general fund to the criminal justice training commission for the purposes of section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. The sum of one million two hundred eighty thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1993, from the general fund to the department of community development for the purposes of section 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. The sum of one million dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1993, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the purposes of section 5 of this act.