Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

 ANALYSIS

Criminal Justice & Corrections Committee

 

 

HB 2645

Brief Description: Including municipal indecent exposure and lewd conduct convictions in the state indecent exposure felony determination.

 

Sponsors: Representatives O'Brien, Lovick, Pearson, Delvin and Simpson, D..


Brief Summary of Bill

    Expands the circumstances under which indecent exposure is a class C felony to include situations in which the perpetrator has been convicted of a municipal lewd conduct or indecent exposure ordinance.


Hearing Date: 1/28/04


Staff: Jim Morishima (786-7191).


Background:


A person is guilty of indecent exposure if he or she intentionally makes any open and obscene exposure of his or her person or the person of another knowing that such conduct is likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm. The act of breastfeeding or expressing breast milk is not indecent exposure.


Indecent exposure is a misdemeanor unless:

    The person exposes himself or herself to a person under 14 years of age, in which case the crime is a gross misdemeanor; or

    The person has a previous conviction for indecent exposure or a sex offense, in which case the crime is a class C felony with a seriousness level of IV.



Summary of Bill:


The circumstances under which indecent exposure is a class C felony are expanded. Indecent exposure is a class C felony when the person committing the crime has been previously convicted of any municipal lewd conduct or indecent exposure ordinance.


Appropriation: None.


Fiscal Note: Available.


Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed, except for section 2, which, because of amendments made in a previous legislative session, takes effect July 1, 2004.