FINAL BILL REPORT

                 SHB 1211

                         C 169 L 98

                     Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Making accident reports available to the traffic safety commission.

Sponsors:  By House Committee on Transportation Policy & Budget (originally sponsored by Representatives DeBolt, Fisher, K. Schmidt, Blalock, Johnson, Mielke, O'Brien and Costa; by request of Washington Traffic Safety Commission).

House Committee on Transportation Policy & Budget

Senate Committee on Transportation

Background:  The Washington State Patrol (WSP) is required to make  accident reports and analysis available to the Director of Licensing, the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Utilities and Transportation Commission, or their duly authorized representatives for further tabulation and analysis.  It is the duty of the chief of the Washington State Patrol to file, tabulate, and analyze all accident reports.  While the Traffic Safety Commission (TSC) is not specifically named in statute as a receiving entity, it has, in fact, been receiving summary data as a duly authorized representative.

One source of data used by the TSC is the traffic collision records from the WSP.  The commission receives the accident summary data records on a monthly and annual basis.  The commission performs statistical and trend analysis on the data received to identify traffic safety issues.  One of the functions of the TSC is to find solutions to the traffic safety problems that have been identified.

A formal attorney general opinion was recently requested to clarify the commission's authorization to receive this data.  The attorney general's recommendation was that a legislative change is necessary to allow the Traffic Safety Commission to have access to the accident report.  When reviewing the existing entities receiving the accident report data, it was found that even though the attorney general's formal opinion did not mention the other entities, language was required to allow these entities to continue to receive the data that they have been receiving.

Summary:  The Traffic Safety Commission is added to the list of agencies which are authorized to receive accident reports and analysis from the Washington State Patrol. At the discretion of the chief of the Washington State Patrol, other public entities may be authorized to receive the information as well.

Votes on Final Passage:

House940

Senate450

Effective:June 11, 1998