BILL REQ. #:  S-1598.1 

Read first time 02/15/2005.   Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions, Housing & Consumer Protection.

     AN ACT Relating to providing police reports to victims of identity theft; and amending RCW 19.182.160.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 19.182.160 and 2001 c 217 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Within thirty days of receipt of proof of the consumer's identification and a copy of a filed police report evidencing the consumer's claim to be a victim of a violation of RCW 9.35.020, a consumer reporting agency shall permanently block reporting any information the consumer identifies on his or her consumer report is a result of a violation of RCW 9.35.020, so that the information cannot be reported, except as provided in subsection (2) of this section. The consumer reporting agency shall promptly notify the furnisher of the information that a police report has been filed, that a block has been requested, and the effective date of the block.
     (2) A consumer reporting agency may decline to block or may rescind any block of consumer information if, in the exercise of good faith and reasonable judgment, the consumer reporting agency believes:
     (a) The information was blocked due to a misrepresentation of fact by the consumer relevant to the request to block under this section;
     (b) The consumer agrees that the blocked information or portions of the blocked information were blocked in error; or
     (c) The consumer knowingly obtained possession of goods, services, or moneys as a result of the blocked transaction or transactions or the consumer should have known that he or she obtained possession of goods, services, or moneys as a result of the blocked transaction or transactions.
     (3) If the block of information is declined or rescinded under this section, the consumer shall be notified promptly in the same manner as consumers are notified of the reinsertion of information pursuant to section 611 of the fair credit reporting act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681I, as amended. The prior presence of the blocked information in the consumer reporting agency's file on the consumer is not evidence of whether the consumer knew or should have known that he or she obtained possession of any goods, services, or moneys.
     (4) In order to facilitate the exercise of a consumer's right to block information in his or her consumer report, all police and sheriff's departments in Washington state shall provide police reports at the request of victims of identity theft.