BILL REQ. #:  S-1224.2 

READ FIRST TIME 02/19/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to a pilot project for the electronic monitoring of sex offenders; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the appropriate monitoring of level three sex offenders may increase public safety and that global positioning system based electronic monitoring holds promise as an adjunct to traditional methods of supervision in the community. The legislature also finds, however, that information it has been presented regarding the actual availability, reliability, price, and effectiveness of electronic monitoring based on global positioning system technology is conflicting and inconclusive. The legislature notes that some vendors have proposed systems in which no production models have yet been built or tested. Consequently, the legislature intends that a pilot project be undertaken to assess the viability of passive data logging global positioning system based electronic monitoring.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1) The Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs shall work with the department of corrections and the department of social and health services to establish a pilot project to test the availability, reliability, and effectiveness of an electronic monitoring system based on passive data logging global positioning system technology.
     (2) The pilot project shall be of sufficient size to test the reliability of the technology in a variety of geographical circumstances including both urban and rural locations.
     (3) The pilot project shall test the system using sex or kidnapping offenders under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and persons civilly committed under chapter 71.09 RCW under a variety of supervision circumstances. Offenders included in the pilot project shall be offenders over whom the department of corrections has authority to establish conditions of supervision or persons who have been ordered to be electronically monitored by the court in a proceeding under chapter 71.09 RCW and who have been classified as level three offenders by the end of sentence review committee.
     (4) The pilot project shall specifically examine the feasibility of electronic monitoring for level three sex offenders or kidnapping offenders who register as homeless or transient.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   (1) The Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs shall report to the appropriate committees of the legislature and the governor on the results of the pilot project by December 1, 2003.
     (2) The report shall discuss:
     (a) The availability of the technology, including a description of the system used and a discussion of the various types of global positioning system based monitoring available and appropriate for a sex offender population;
     (b) Any geographic limitations posed by the technology;
     (c) The reliability, including the false alarm rate of the technology;
     (d) Any training requirements for department of corrections staff or supervised persons;
     (e) Any distinctions in effectiveness or feasibility for different supervision populations; and
     (f) Costs, including equipment costs, monitoring fees, and any changes to department of corrections staffing levels.
     (3) The association shall make a recommendation in the report about the frequency and timing of monitoring reports.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   (1) A decision by the department of corrections or the department of social and health services to include or exclude a person from the pilot project does not provide a basis for imposition of civil damages and a decision not to include a supervised offender in the pilot project does not constitute negligent supervision.
     (2) The Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs and its employees working on this pilot project are immune from civil liability for damages for any discretionary decisions made pursuant to the pilot project, unless it is shown that the association or its employee acted with gross negligence or in bad faith.