Z-0470.1          _______________________________________________

                                  HOUSE BILL 1128

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State of Washington              54th Legislature             1995 Regular Session

By Representatives Blanton, Costa, Koster, Ballasiotes, Cole, Quall, Tokuda, Padden, L. Thomas, Basich and Dickerson; by request of Department of Corrections

Read first time 01/13/95.  Referred to Committee on Corrections.

Specifying the admissibility in court of records certified by the department of corrections.

     AN ACT Relating to admissibility in court of records certified by the secretary of corrections or his or her designee; and adding a new section to chapter 72.01 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 72.01 RCW to read as follows:

     Any copy of a criminal offender record, photograph, fingerprint, or other paper or document in the files of the department of corrections, including dependency record information, certified by the secretary of corrections or the secretary's designee to be a true and complete copy of the original or of information on file with the department of corrections, shall be admissible in evidence in any court of the state pursuant to RCW 5.44.040.  The department of corrections may charge reasonable fees for the reproduction, shipment, and certification of such materials.

     For the purposes of this section the following words have the following meanings:

     "Criminal offender record" includes, and shall be restricted to, identifying data and public record information recorded as the result of an arrest or other initiation of criminal proceedings and the consequent proceedings related thereto.  "Criminal offender record" shall not include intelligence, analytical, or investigative reports and files.

     "Dependency record information" includes and shall be restricted to identifying data regarding a person, over the age of eighteen, who was a party to a dependency proceeding brought under chapter 13.34 RCW and who has been found, pursuant to such dependency proceeding, to have sexually abused or exploited or physically abused a child.

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