BILL REQ. #:  H-0652.1 

Read first time 02/21/2003.   Referred to Committee on State Government.

     AN ACT Relating to restoring voting rights to felons upon completion of supervision; adding a new section to chapter 29.07 RCW; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that:
     (1) Washington currently denies the right to vote to all persons who have not fully paid legal financial obligations, even though they have completed all other requirements of their felony sentences;
     (2) Voting is part of the fabric of our democracy and, by increasing voter participation, restoring the right to vote to ex-felons both strengthens democracy and reintegrates ex-felons into society;
     (3) The current disenfranchisement law has a disproportionate impact on male African-American Washingtonians, disenfranchising approximately one-fourth of all African-American males otherwise eligible to vote in this state;
     (4) Crime victims have a strong interest in repayment of legal financial obligations; and
     (5) Restoring the right to vote before legal financial obligations have been paid does not lessen, void, or nullify the continuing obligation of ex-felons to pay legal financial obligations, their motivation to do so, or the state's ability to collect the debt.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   The purpose of this act is to strengthen the state's democratic institutions by increasing participation in elections, and to promote the health and safety of Washington citizens by fostering ex-felons becoming fully productive members of society.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 29.07 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, persons convicted of a felony will have their civil right to the elective franchise restored if they have completed all the requirements of all of their sentences, except for legal financial obligations as defined in RCW 9.94A.030.
     (2) This section does not impair an offender's ability to obtain a certificate of discharge prior to completion of community supervision if eligible under RCW 9.94A.637(3).
     (3) This section does not affect or prevent the enforcement of legal financial obligations or the offender's obligation to comply with an order issued under chapter 10.99 RCW or any other legal authority that excludes or prohibits the offender from having contact with a specified person, or coming within a set distance of any specified location, that was contained in the judgment and sentence.