Title: An act relating to adding kidnapping to the statewide registered sex offender web site.

Brief Description: Adding kidnapping to the statewide registered sex offender web site.

Sponsors: By Representatives O'Brien, Pearson, Darneille, Simpson and Ormsby.

Brief History:

Criminal Justice & Corrections: 2/1/05, 2/10/05 [DP].

Floor Activity:

Passed House: 3/8/05, 93-0.
Passed Senate: 4/12/05, 44-0.
Passed Legislature.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE & CORRECTIONS

Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 7 members: Representatives O'Brien, Chair; Darneille, Vice Chair; Pearson, Ranking Minority Member; Ahern, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Kagi, Kirby and Strow.

Staff: Yvonne Walker (786-7841).

Background:

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) administers a web site available to the public which provides electronic links to county operated web sites which offer sex offender registration information.

The WASPC has also developed, using federal grants and other sources, a public accessible web site with information on all level II and level III sex offenders in the state. The web site has mapping capabilities which can show, among other items, the offender's address, name, and type of conviction.

Summary of Bill:

Information on kidnapping offenders, as allowed by law, is included on the WASPC web site. The web site allows citizens to search for registered kidnappers in Washington by county, city, zip code, last name, conviction, and address by hundredth block. The WASPC is authorized to use funding from federal or other sources to operate the web site containing the kidnapping offender information.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For: This is a technical bill brought to the committee by the WASPC. The WASPC already operates a sex offender web site which is mandatory under Meagan's Law and which shows the hundredth block radius of sex offenders. This bill is a technical cleanup because the original authorizing language in statute does not include registered kidnappers. With the exception of the language relating to the WASPC web site, all the other surrounding statutes reference both sex offenders and kidnappers. This bill will clean that statute up.

Testimony Against: None.

Persons Testifying: James McMahan, Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.