| Passed by the Senate April 16, 2005 YEAS 41 ________________________________________ President of the Senate Passed by the House April 5, 2005 YEAS 94 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives | I, Thomas Hoemann, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5939 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Secretary | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2005 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/25/05.
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, filed by the
consumer, 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(3) If the block of information is declined or rescinded under this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 to the
consumer, at the consumer's request, a copy of any police report, filed
by the consumer, evidencing the consumer's claim to be a victim of a
violation of RCW 9.35.020.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a law
enforcement agency to investigate reports claiming identity theft.