CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

                  SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6542

                        54th Legislature

                      1996 Regular Session

Passed by the Senate February 8, 1996   YEAS 49   NAYS 0 President of the Senate Passed by the House March 5, 1996   YEAS 93   NAYS 1

CERTIFICATE I, Marty Brown, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6542 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.

Speaker of the       House of Representatives

Secretary

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

FILED

Governor of the State of Washington

Secretary of State                   State of Washington

          _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6542

          _______________________________________________

             Passed Legislature - 1996 Regular Session

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1996 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Human Services & Corrections (originally sponsored by Senators Schow, Hargrove, Long and Oke)

Read first time 02/02/96.

Deterring the unwarranted or abusive use of the offender grievance process.

    AN ACT Relating to deterring the unwarranted or abusive use of the offender grievance process; and adding a new section to chapter 72.09 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 72.09 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) In order to discourage the unwarranted or abusive use of the inmate grievance system, the department of corrections shall pursue the following changes to the certified inmate grievance procedure through all necessary and appropriate avenues as may be required by 42 U.S.C Sec. 1997e(b)(2) or 28 C.F.R. Part 40 Subpart B:

   (a) Offenders shall be assessed a two dollar fee for any grievance the department determines was not filed in good faith, except that no fee shall be assessed for the first two grievances filed by an offender that are found to have not been filed in good faith;

   (b) Fees assessed under this provision shall be in addition to any other disciplinary action taken by the department in response to the unwarranted or abusive use of the grievance procedure;

   (c) The fees may be deducted from an offender's institution account or, if the offender is indigent, recorded as a debt against the account and recouped as provided in RCW 72.09.450;

   (d) Notice of the changes shall be provided to all current offenders prior to implementation and shall be incorporated into the orientation of new offenders and the written grievance procedures readily available to all offenders.

    (2) The department shall make application for the changes no later than July 31, 1996, and shall report to the appropriate committees of the legislature the response to the application.  Upon approval of the proposed changes by the United States attorney general or the attorney general's designee, the department shall implement the approved changes to the grievance procedure within one hundred twenty days.  In the event the United States attorney general or the attorney general's designee indicates that any of the proposed changes would result in suspension or withdrawal of the certification of the grievance procedure, the department shall explore with the attorney general or the attorney general's designee possible alternatives to accomplish the intent of this section that would not result in suspension or withdrawal of certification.  The department shall include any such possible alternatives in its report to the legislature.

                            --- END ---