[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to a statewide registered sex offender web site; amending RCW 43.43.540; reenacting and amending RCW 4.24.550; and adding new sections to chapter 10.98 RCW.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 4.24.550 and 2001 c 283 s 2 and 2001 c 169 s 2 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

(1) Public agencies are authorized to release information to the public regarding sex offenders and kidnapping offenders when the agency determines that disclosure of the information is relevant and necessary to protect the public and counteract the danger created by the particular offender. This authorization applies to information regarding: (a) Any person adjudicated or convicted of a sex offense as defined in RCW 9A.44.130 or a kidnapping offense as defined by RCW 9A.44.130; (b) any person under the jurisdiction of the indeterminate sentence review board as the result of a sex offense or kidnapping offense; (c) any person committed as a sexually violent predator under chapter 71.09 RCW or as a sexual psychopath under chapter 71.06 RCW; (d) any person found not guilty of a sex offense or kidnapping offense by reason of insanity under chapter 10.77 RCW; and (e) any person found incompetent to stand trial for a sex offense or kidnapping offense and subsequently committed under chapter 71.05 or 71.34 RCW.

(2) The extent of the public disclosure of relevant and necessary information shall be rationally related to: (a) The level of risk posed by the offender to the community; (b) the locations where the offender resides, expects to reside, or is regularly found; and (c) the needs of the affected community members for information to enhance their individual and collective safety.

(3) Local law enforcement agencies shall consider the following guidelines in determining the extent of a public disclosure made under this section: (a) For offenders classified as risk level I, the agency shall share information with other appropriate law enforcement agencies and may disclose, upon request, relevant, necessary, and accurate information to any victim or witness to the offense and to any individual community member who lives near the residence where the offender resides, expects to reside, or is regularly found; (b) for offenders classified as risk level II, the agency may also disclose relevant, necessary, and accurate information to public and private schools, child day care centers, family day care providers, businesses and organizations that serve primarily children, women, or vulnerable adults, and neighbors and community groups near the residence where the offender resides, expects to reside, or is regularly found; (c) for offenders classified as risk level III, the agency may also disclose relevant, necessary, and accurate information to the public at large; and (d) because more localized notification is not feasible and homeless and transient offenders may present unique risks to the community, the agency may also disclose relevant, necessary, and accurate information to the public at large for offenders registered as homeless or transient.

(4) The county sheriff with whom an offender classified as risk level III is registered shall cause to be published by legal notice, advertising, or news release a sex offender community notification that conforms to the guidelines established under RCW 4.24.5501 in at least one legal newspaper with general circulation in the area of the sex offender's registered address or location. The county sheriff shall also cause to be published consistent with this subsection a current list of level III registered sex offenders, twice yearly. Unless the information is posted on the web site described in subsection (5) of this section, this list shall be maintained by the county sheriff on a publicly accessible web site and shall be updated at least once per month.

(5) The Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs shall create and maintain a statewide registered sex offender web site, which shall be available to the public. The web site shall post all level 2 and 3 registered sex offenders in the state of Washington. The web site shall contain, but is not limited to, the registered sex offender's name, where he or she lives, relevant criminal convictions, address, physical description, and photograph. The web site shall provide mapping capabilities that display the sex offender's address on a map. The web site shall allow citizens to search for registered sex offenders within the state of Washington by county, city, zip code, last name, type of conviction, and address.

(6) Local law enforcement agencies that disseminate information pursuant to this section shall: (a) Review available risk level classifications made by the department of corrections, the department of social and health services, and the indeterminate sentence review board; (b) assign risk level classifications to all offenders about whom information will be disseminated; and (c) make a good faith effort to notify the public and residents at least fourteen days before the offender is released from confinement or, where an offender moves from another jurisdiction, as soon as possible after the agency learns of the offender's move, except that in no case may this notification provision be construed to require an extension of an offender's release date. The juvenile court shall provide local law enforcement officials with all relevant information on offenders allowed to remain in the community in a timely manner.

((~~(6)~~)) (7) An appointed or elected public official, public employee, or public agency as defined in RCW 4.24.470 ((is)), or units of local government and its employees, as defined in RCW 36.28A.010, are immune from civil liability for damages for any discretionary risk level classification decisions or release of relevant and necessary information, unless it is shown that the official, employee, or agency acted with gross negligence or in bad faith. The immunity in this section applies to risk level classification decisions and the release of relevant and necessary information regarding any individual for whom disclosure is authorized. The decision of a local law enforcement agency or official to classify an offender to a risk level other than the one assigned by the department of corrections, the department of social and health services, or the indeterminate sentence review board, or the release of any relevant and necessary information based on that different classification shall not, by itself, be considered gross negligence or bad faith. The immunity provided under this section applies to the release of relevant and necessary information to other public officials, public employees, or public agencies, and to the general public.

((~~(7)~~)) (8) Except as may otherwise be provided by law, nothing in this section shall impose any liability upon a public official, public employee, or public agency for failing to release information authorized under this section.

((~~(8)~~)) (9) Nothing in this section implies that information regarding persons designated in subsection (1) of this section is confidential except as may otherwise be provided by law.

((~~(9)~~)) (10) When a local law enforcement agency or official classifies an offender differently than the offender is classified by the department of corrections, the department of social and health services, or the indeterminate sentence review board, the law enforcement agency or official shall notify the appropriate department or the board and submit its reasons supporting the change in classification.

Sec. 2. RCW 43.43.540 and 1998 c 220 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

The county sheriff shall (1) forward the information, photographs, and fingerprints obtained pursuant to RCW 9A.44.130, including any notice of change of address, to the Washington state patrol within five working days; and (2) forward any information obtained pursuant to RCW 9A.44.130 that is necessary to operate the registered sex offender web site described in RCW 4.24.550 to the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs within five working days of receiving the information, including any notice of change of address. The state patrol shall maintain a central registry of sex offenders and kidnapping offenders required to register under RCW 9A.44.130 and shall adopt rules consistent with chapters 10.97, 10.98, and 43.43 RCW as are necessary to carry out the purposes of RCW 9A.44.130, 9A.44.140, 10.01.200, 43.43.540, 46.20.187, 70.48.470, and 72.09.330. The Washington state patrol shall reimburse the counties for the costs of processing the offender registration, including taking the fingerprints and the photographs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The statewide registered sex offender web site, as described in RCW 4.24.550 shall be operational no later than six months after enough money has been placed into the statewide registered sex offender web site account, as described in section 6 of this act, to pay for: (1) The creation and operation of the statewide registered sex offender web site; and (2) any necessary computer upgrades each sheriff must make to electronically process the information to the statewide registered sex offender web site.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Every registered sex offender under RCW 9A.44.130 shall pay the county sheriff a quarterly fee of twenty dollars for as long as the sex offender is required to register as a sex offender. On a quarterly basis, the sheriff shall transmit fifty percent of all registration fees collected to the state treasurer for deposit into the statewide registered sex offender web site account described in section 6 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A registered sex offender that is more than ninety days late in paying the county sheriff the quarterly fee, as described in section 4 of this act, shall serve no more than ten days in the county jail.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The statewide registered sex offender web site account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts under section 3 of this act must be deposited into the account. Expenditures from the account may be used only by the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs for: (1) The creation, operation, and maintenance of the statewide registered sex offender web site as described in RCW 4.24.550; and (2) the purchase of any equipment and services necessary to upgrade each county sheriff's computer system to allow electronic submission of the information to be posted on the web site. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 3 through 6 of this act are each added to chapter 10.98 RCW.