Passed by the House March 13, 1991

Yeas 94 Nays 0

Speaker of the

House of Representatives

Passed by the Senate April 10, 1991

Yeas 45 Nays 0

President of the Senate

Approved Place Style On Codes above, and Style Off Codes below.

Governor of the State of Washington

CERTIFICATE

I, Alan Thompson, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 1716 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth.

Chief Clerk

FILED

Secretary of State

State of Washington

AN ACT Relating to county recording procedures; amending RCW 36.18.010, 65.04.030, 65.04.040, and 65.04.050; adding a new section to chapter 36.18 RCW; and adding a new section to chapter 65.04 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 36.18 RCW to read as follows:

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

(1) "Recording officer" means the county auditor, or in charter counties the county official charged with the responsibility for recording instruments in the county records.

(2) "File," "filed," or "filing" means the act of delivering an instrument to the auditor or recording officer for recording into the official public records.

(3) "Record," "recorded," or "recording" means the process, such as electronic, mechanical, optical, magnetic, or microfilm storage used by the auditor or recording officer after filing to incorporate the instrument into the public records.

Sec. 2. RCW 36.18.010 and 1989 c 304 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

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

For recording instruments, for the first page, legal size (eight and one-half by ((~~thirteen~~)) fourteen inches or less), five dollars; for each additional legal size page, one dollar; the fee for recording multiple transactions contained in one instrument will be calculated individually for each transaction requiring separate indexing as required under RCW 65.04.050;

For preparing and certifying copies, for the first legal size page, three dollars; for each additional legal size page, one dollar;

For preparing noncertified copies, for each legal size page, one dollar;

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

For issuing a marriage license, eight dollars, (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 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, which five-dollar fee shall expire June 30, 1995, plus an additional 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;

For searching records per hour, eight dollars;

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;

For recording of miscellaneous records, not listed above, for first legal size page, five dollars; for each additional legal size page, one dollar;

For modernization and improvement of the recording and indexing system, a surcharge as provided in RCW 36.22.170.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 65.04 RCW to read as follows:

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

(1) "Recording officer" means the county auditor, or in charter counties the county official charged with the responsibility for recording instruments in the county records.

(2) "File," "filed," or "filing" means the act of delivering an instrument to the auditor or recording officer for recording into the official public records.

(4) "Record location number" means a unique number that identifies the storage location (book or volume and page, reel and frame, instrument number, auditor or recording officer file number, receiving number, electronic retrieval code, or other specific place) of each instrument in the public records accessible in the same recording office where the instrument containing the reference to the location is found.

Sec. 4. RCW 65.04.030 and 1985 c 44 s 15 are each amended to read as follows:

((He)) The auditor or recording officer must, upon the payment of ((~~his~~)) the fees as required in RCW 36.18.010 for the same, acknowledge receipt therefor in writing or printed form and record in large and well bound books, or by photographic or photomechanical or other approved process, the following:

(1) Deeds, grants and transfers of real property, mortgages and releases of mortgages of real estate, instruments or agreements relating to community or separate property, powers of attorney to convey real estate, and leases which have been acknowledged or proved: PROVIDED, That deeds, contracts and mortgages of real estate described by lot and block and addition or plat, shall not be filed or recorded until the plat of such addition has been filed and made a matter of record;

(2) Patents to lands and receivers' receipts, whether for mineral, timber, homestead or preemption claims or cash entries;

(3) All such other papers or writing as are required by law to be recorded and such as are required by law to be filed.

Sec. 5. RCW 65.04.040 and 1985 c 44 s 16 are each amended to read as follows:

Any state, county, or municipal officer charged with the duty of recording instruments in public records((~~, may, in lieu of transcription,~~)) shall record them by ((~~receiving~~)) record location number in the order filed, irrespective of the type of instrument, using a ((~~photographic or photomechanical~~)) process((~~, which produces a clear, legible, and durable record and which~~)) that has been tested and approved for the intended purpose by the state archivist.

In addition, the county auditor or recording officer, in the exercise of ((~~his~~)) the duty of recording instruments in public records, may, in lieu of transcription, record all instruments, ((~~which~~)) that he or she is charged by law to record, ((~~except plats,~~)) by any photographic, photostatic, microfilm, microcard, miniature photographic or other process ((~~which~~)) that actually reproduces or forms a durable medium for so reproducing the original, and which has been tested and approved for the intended purpose by the state archivist. If the county auditor((~~, in lieu of transcription,~~)) or recording officer records any instrument by a process ((~~herein enumerated which produces a miniature copy of the original~~)) approved by the state archivist it shall not be necessary thereafter to make any notations or marginal notes, which are otherwise required by law, thereon((~~: PROVIDED, That~~)) if, in lieu of making said notations thereon, the auditor ((~~shall~~)) or recording officer immediately makes a note of such in ((~~both the direct and inverted indexes and other appropriate indexes,~~)) the general index in the column headed "remarks,"((~~, opposite the appropriate entry~~)) listing the record number location of the instrument to which the current entry relates back.

Previously recorded or filed instruments may be processed and preserved by any means authorized under this section for the original recording of instruments. The county auditor or recording officer may provide ((~~in his office~~)) for the use of the public ((~~books~~)), media containing reproductions of instruments and other materials that have been recorded pursuant to the provisions of this section. The contents of ((~~such books~~)) the media may be arranged according to date of filing, irrespective of type of instrument, or in such other manner as the county auditor ((~~in his discretion shall~~)) or recording officer deems proper.

Sec. 6. RCW 65.04.050 and 1893 c 119 s 12 are each amended to read as follows:

Every auditor or recording officer must keep a general index, direct and inverted. The index may be either printed on paper or produced on microfilm or microfiche, or it can be created from a computerized data base and displayed on a video display terminal. Any reference to a prior record location number may be entered in the remarks column. Any property legal description contained in the instrument must be entered in the description of property column of the general index. The direct index shall be divided into seven columns, and with heads to the respective columns, as follows: ((~~Time~~)) Date of reception, grantor, grantee, nature of instrument, volume and page where recorded, remarks, description of property. ((He)) The auditor or recording officer shall correctly enter in such index every instrument concerning or affecting real estate which by law is required to be recorded, the names of grantors being in alphabetical order. The inverted index shall also be divided into seven columns, precisely similar, except that "grantee" shall occupy the second column and "grantor" the third, the names of grantees being ((~~[in]~~)) in alphabetical order. The auditor or recording officer may combine the direct and indirect indexes into a single index if it contains all the information required to be contained in the separate direct and indirect indexes and the names of all grantors and grantees can be found by a person searching the combined index. For the purposes of this ((~~act~~)) chapter, the term "grantor" ((~~shall be construed to~~)) means any person conveying or encumbering the title to any property, or any person against whom any lis pendens, judgment, notice of lien, order of sale, execution, writ of attachment, or claims of separate or community property shall be placed on record. ((He shall also keep a well bound book in which shall be platted all maps of towns, villages, or additions to the same within the county, together with the description, legend, acknowledgment or other writing thereon. He shall keep an index to such books of plats, which shall contain the name of the town, village or addition. He)) The auditor or recording officer shall also enter in the general index ((~~above referred to~~)), the name of the party or parties platting ((~~such~~)) a town, village, or addition in the column prescribed for "grantors,"((,)) describing the grantee in such case as "the public."((~~: PROVIDED, That~~)) However, the auditor or recording officer shall not receive or record any such plat or map until ((~~the same shall have~~)) it has been approved by the mayor and common council of the municipality in which the property so platted ((be)) is situated, or if ((~~such~~)) the property be not situated within any municipal corporation, then ((~~such~~)) the plat must be first approved by the ((~~board of county commissioners of such~~)) county((~~: PROVIDED FURTHER, That~~)) legislative authority. The auditor or recording officer shall not receive for record any plat, map, or subdivision of land bearing a name the same or similar to the name of any map or plat already on record in ((~~his~~)) the office. The auditor or recording officer may establish a name reservation system to preclude the possibility of duplication of names.