FINAL BILL REPORT

                  ESSB 5190

                          C 373 L 95

                      Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Making it a crime to tattoo a person under age eighteen without parental consent.

Sponsors:  Senate Committee on Law & Justice (originally sponsored by Senators Roach, Pelz, Smith and Heavey).

Senate Committee on Law & Justice

House Committee on Law & Justice

Background:  Many young people are getting tattoos.  Tattooing is a procedure commonly done by inserting pigment or indelible ink under the surfaces of the skin by pricking with a needle or otherwise, so as to produce a permanent mark or figure that is visible through the skin.  This procedure may be performed on a child of any age without parental consent.  There is concern that minors, because of their youth, do not fully comprehend the significant and permanent nature of tattooing their skin.

Summary:  It is a misdemeanor for a person to tattoo a minor under the age of 18.  It is not a defense that the person applying the tattoo did not know the minor's age, unless the person applying the tattoos made an effort to ascertain the age of the minor by requiring production of picture identification.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate    46 1

House     80 15 (House amended)

Senate    43 1 (Senate concurred)

Effective:  July 23, 1995