BILL REQ. #:  S-4887.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/03/06.   

     AN ACT Relating to creating a statewide automated victim information and notification system; amending RCW 36.28A.040; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that notifying victims of crime when their offender is released from incarceration, transferred, or served with a protective order is vital to enhancing the safety and mental well-being of a victim. In recognition of the victim's needs, some Washington state local governments have implemented a victim notification system. However, only a few local governments have implemented these systems which are presently not connected to an interoperable statewide system.
     The legislature has learned that nineteen states have passed legislation to implement a statewide interoperable victim notification system. The legislature has also learned that the statewide city and county jail booking and reporting system, as created by RCW 36.28A.040, could efficiently be enhanced to include a statewide automated victim information and notification system. It is the intent of this act to provide victims throughout our state with the knowledge they need to secure their physical and mental well-being.

Sec. 2   RCW 36.28A.040 and 2001 c 169 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) No later than July 1, 2002, the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs shall implement and operate an electronic statewide city and county jail booking and reporting system. The system shall serve as a central repository and instant information source for offender information and jail statistical data. The system ((shall)) may be placed on the Washington state justice information network and be capable of communicating electronically with every Washington state city and county jail and with all other Washington state criminal justice agencies as defined in RCW 10.97.030.
     (2) After the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs has implemented an electronic jail booking system as described in subsection (1) of this section, if a city or county jail or law enforcement agency receives state or federal funding to cover the entire cost of implementing or reconfiguring an electronic jail booking system, the city or county jail or law enforcement agency shall implement or reconfigure an electronic jail booking system that is in compliance with the jail booking system standards developed pursuant to subsection (4) of this section.
     (3) After the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs has implemented an electronic jail booking system as described in subsection (1) of this section, city or county jails, or law enforcement agencies that operate electronic jail booking systems, but choose not to accept state or federal money to implement or reconfigure electronic jail booking systems, shall electronically forward jail booking information to the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs. At a minimum the information forwarded shall include the name of the offender, vital statistics, the date the offender was arrested, the offenses arrested for, the date and time an offender is released or transferred from a city or county jail, and if available, the mug shot. The electronic format in which the information is sent shall be at the discretion of the city or county jail, or law enforcement agency forwarding the information. City and county jails or law enforcement agencies that forward jail booking information under this subsection are not required to comply with the standards developed under subsection (4)(b) of this section.
     (4) The Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs shall appoint, convene, and manage a statewide jail booking and reporting system standards committee. The committee shall include representatives from the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs correction committee, the information service board's justice information committee, the judicial information system, at least two individuals who serve as jailers in a city or county jail, and other individuals that the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs places on the committee. The committee shall have the authority to:
     (a) Develop and amend as needed standards for the statewide jail booking and reporting system and for the information that must be contained within the system. At a minimum, the system shall contain:
     (i) The offenses the individual has been charged with;
     (ii) Descriptive and personal information about each offender booked into a city or county jail. At a minimum, this information shall contain the offender's name, vital statistics, address, and mugshot;
     (iii) Information about the offender while in jail, which could be used to protect criminal justice officials that have future contact with the offender, such as medical conditions, acts of violence, and other behavior problems;
     (iv) Statistical data indicating the current capacity of each jail and the quantity and category of offenses charged;
     (v) The ability to communicate directly and immediately with the city and county jails and other criminal justice entities; and
     (vi) The date and time that an offender was released or transferred from a local jail;
     (b) Develop and amend as needed operational standards for city and county jail booking systems, which at a minimum shall include the type of information collected and transmitted, and the technical requirements needed for the city and county jail booking system to communicate with the statewide jail booking and reporting system;
     (c) Develop and amend as needed standards for allocating grants to city and county jails or law enforcement agencies that will be implementing or reconfiguring electronic jail booking systems.
     (5) ((By January 1, 2001, the standards committee shall complete the initial standards described in subsection (4) of this section, and the standards shall be placed into a report and provided to all Washington state city and county jails, all other criminal justice agencies as defined in RCW 10.97.030, the chair of the Washington state senate human services and corrections committee, and the chair of the Washington state house of representatives criminal justice and corrections committee.)) (a) A statewide automated victim information and notification system shall be added to the city and county jail booking and reporting system. The system shall:
     (i) Automatically notify a registered victim via the victim's choice of telephone, letter, or e-mail when any of the following events affect an offender housed in any Washington state city or county jail or department of corrections facility:
     (A) Is transferred or assigned to another facility;
     (B) Is transferred to the custody of another agency outside the state;
     (C) Is given a different security classification;
     (D) Is released on temporary leave or otherwise;
     (E) Is discharged;
     (F) Has escaped; or
     (G) Has been served with a protective order that was requested by the victim;
     (ii) Automatically notify a registered victim via the victim's choice of telephone, letter, or e-mail when an offender has:
     (A) An upcoming court event where the victim is entitled to be present, if the court information is made available to the statewide automated victim information and notification system administrator at the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs;
     (B) An upcoming parole, pardon, or community supervision hearing; or
     (C) A change in the offender's parole, probation, or community supervision status including:
     (I) A change in the offender's supervision status; or
     (II) A change in the offender's address;
     (iii) Automatically notify a registered victim via the victim's choice of telephone, letter, or e-mail when a sex offender has:
     (A) Updated his or her profile information with the state sex offender registry; or
     (B) Become noncompliant with the state sex offender registry;
     (iv) Permit a registered victim to receive the most recent status report for an offender in any Washington state city and county jail, Washington state criminal justice agencies as defined in RCW 10.97.030, or sex offender registry by calling the statewide automated victim information and notification system on a toll-free telephone number or by accessing the statewide automated victim information and notification system via a public web site. All registered victims calling the statewide automated victim information and notification system will be given the option to have live operator assistance to help use the program on a twenty-four hour, three hundred sixty-five day per year basis;
     (v) Permit a crime victim to register, or registered victim to update, the victim's registration information for the statewide automated victim information and notification system by calling a toll-free telephone number or by accessing a public web site; and
     (vi) Ensure that the offender information contained within the statewide automated victim information and notification system is updated frequently to timely notify a crime victim that an offender has been released or discharged or has escaped. However, the failure of the statewide automated victim information and notification system to provide notice to the victim does not establish a separate cause of action by the victim against state officials, local officials, law enforcement officers, or any related correctional authorities.
     (b) An appointed or elected official, public employee, or public agency as defined in RCW 4.24.470, or units of government and its employees, as provided in RCW 36.28A.010, are immune from civil liability for damages for any release of information or the failure to release information related to the statewide automated victim information and notification system and the jail booking and reporting system as described in this section, so long as the release was without gross negligence. The immunity provided under this subsection applies to the release of relevant and necessary information to other public officials, public employees, or public agencies, and to the general public.
     (c) Participation in the statewide automated victim information and notification program satisfies any obligation to notify the crime victim of an offender's custody status and the status of the offender's upcoming court events so long as:
     (i) Information making offender and case data available is provided on a timely basis to the statewide automated victim information and notification program; and
     (ii) Information a victim submits to register and participate in the victim notification system is only used for the sole purpose of victim notification.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   In Washington any vendor contracted to provide a statewide automated victim notification service must deliver the service with a minimum of 99.95-percent availability and with less than an average of one-percent notification errors as a result of the vendor's technology.