S-1391.2 _______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5080
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State of Washington 54th Legislature 1995 Regular Session
By Senate Committee on Law & Justice (originally sponsored by Senators Smith, Gaspard, Roach, Long, Deccio, Haugen, Schow, Newhouse and Oke)
Read first time 02/17/95.
AN ACT Relating to use of electronic security systems to prevent fraud involving driver's licenses and identicards; creating new sections; and making an appropriation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that: (1) There is an unreasonably high level of fraudulent transactions involving the use of documents that misrepresent the identity of the person using them; (2) this fraud extends into the commercial and public assistance sectors and causes taxpayers, businesses, and government to experience financial losses which otherwise could and should be avoided; (3) losses to government assistance programs due to fraudulent transactions reduce the support available to the truly needy and such losses must be reduced in order to make a more efficient and humane assistance system available; (4) driver's licenses and identicards issued by the department of licensing have become the most widely accepted forms of personal identification in use by Washington citizens; and (5) there is a significant need to improve the verifiability of documents issued by the state of Washington that are commonly used for identification purposes.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The department of licensing is directed to undertake a study of the methods and technology currently available and under development that are designed to provide an electronic data-based system of government-issued documents that are used as drivers' licenses or state-issued identification cards and that provide extremely high assurances of verification that the holder of the document is the person identified on the document.
(2) The study shall consider: (a) The extent of the problem of invalid identification documents and the costs and consequences associated with such documents; (b) the existing and developing technology and practices for improving identification verification programs including use of biometric identifiers; (c) the impact of any suggested technological and programmatic change on the business practices of affected state agencies and the private sector; (d) the impact on the consumers of affected state services; (e) the impact on individual privacy; (f) the likelihood of success of implementing in Washington available and developing practices and technology designed to enhance verifiability of identification documents; (g) the benefits, costs, and risks for affected parties associated with proposed systems; (h) the experience in other jurisdictions that have undertaken and implemented similar identification enhancement projects; (i) methods of providing financial support for any changes in practices and technology needed to achieve the goal of improved verifiability of identification documents; (j) the length of time necessary to implement changes studied by the department; (k) methods of mitigating any adverse consequences which may result from changes; (l) how to allow the department of social and health services to access and utilize the improvements in the documents for purposes of enrolling and maintaining persons in public assistance programs under Title 74 RCW; and (m) the coordination of programs and technology advances in other states.
(3) The study shall be completed no later than November 1, 1997, and the department shall report its conclusions and recommendations to the legislature by December 1, 1997.
(4) The department shall coordinate its work on the study with all appropriate state departments and agencies, including the state patrol, department of information services, department of social and health services, the legislature, and any other appropriate public agency.
(5) The department shall form an advisory committee that shall include representatives from the affected state and law enforcement agencies, at least five members of the public, one member of the majority party in the senate and in the house of representatives and one member of the minority party in the senate and in the house of representatives, and such other groups as the department finds necessary to provide review, advice, and guidance on the study.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The sum of three hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1997, from the general fund to the department of licensing for the purposes of this act.
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