BILL REQ. #:  H-4818.1 

READ FIRST TIME 1/31/06.   

     AN ACT Relating to collecting health care services debt under the homestead exemption; and amending RCW 6.13.030.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 6.13.030 and 1999 c 403 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     A homestead may consist of lands, as described in RCW 6.13.010, regardless of area, but the homestead exemption amount shall not exceed the lesser of (1) the total net value of the lands, mobile home, improvements, and other personal property, as described in RCW 6.13.010, or (2) the sum of forty thousand dollars in the case of lands, mobile home, and improvements, or the sum of fifteen thousand dollars in the case of other personal property described in RCW 6.13.010, except:
     (a) Where the homestead is subject to execution, attachment, or seizure by or under any legal process whatever to satisfy a judgment in favor of any state for failure to pay that state's income tax on benefits received while a resident of the state of Washington from a pension or other retirement plan, in which event there shall be no dollar limit on the value of the exemption; and
     (b)(i) Where the homestead is subject to execution, attachment, or seizure by or under any legal process whatever to satisfy a judgment in favor of any judgment creditor to pay for health care services, as defined in RCW 48.43.005, in which event the dollar limit on the value of the exemption shall be: (A) The sum of one hundred thousand dollars in the case of lands, mobile home, and improvements, or (B) the sum of fifty thousand dollars in the case of other personal property described in RCW 6.13.010.
     (ii) On July 1st of each year, beginning on July 1, 2007, the administrator for the courts shall adjust the dollar limit on the exemption specified in (b)(i)(A) of this subsection by a rate of five percent over the previous year's exemption limit and shall publish the adjusted figure in the Washington state register.