| Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research |
BILL ANALYSIS |
| Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Committee | |
HB 2638
This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in
their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a
statement of legislative intent.
Brief Description: Changing identity theft provisions.
Sponsors: Representatives Pearson, O'Brien, Ericks, Ross, VanDeWege, Sells, Campbell, Roach and McDonald; by request of Attorney General.
Brief Summary of Bill |
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Hearing Date: 1/21/08
Staff: Jim Morishima (786-7191).
Background:
A person commits Identity Theft if he or she knowingly obtains, possesses, uses, or transfers
another person's means of identification or financial information with the intent to commit, or aid
or abet, any crime. A person who obtains the identification for the sole purposes of
misrepresenting his or her age is not guilty of Identity Theft.
Degrees of Identity Theft
A person commits Identity Theft in the first degree if he or she, or an accomplice, uses the means
of identification or financial information to obtain an aggregate total of credit, money, goods,
services, or anything else of value in excess of $1,500. Identity Theft in the first degree is a class
B felony with a seriousness level of IV.
A person commits Identity Theft in the second degree if he or she, or an accomplice, uses the
victim's means of identification or financial information and obtains: (a) an aggregate total of
credit, money, goods, services, or anything else of value less than $1,500, or (b) no credit,
money, goods, services, or anything else of value. Identity Theft in the second degree is a class
C felony with a seriousness level of II.
Unit of Prosecution
In State v. Leyda, 157 Wn.2d 335 (2006), the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the
Legislature, when it enacted the Identity Theft statute, intended that the unit of prosecution for
the crime be any one act of knowingly obtaining, possessing, using, or transferring a single piece
of another person's identification or financial information. In other words, once the defendant
commits an act that constitutes Identity Theft, any subsequent prohibited conduct constitutes the
same offense for purposes of prosecution.
Summary of Bill:
Degrees of Identity Theft
Identity Theft in the first degree is expanded to include situations where the accused, a
conspirator, or an accomplice commits an act of Identity Theft and:
Identity Theft in the second degree occurs when the perpetrator commits Identity Theft under
circumstances not constituting Identity Theft in the first degree.
Whenever any series of transactions involving a single person's identification or financial
information would, when considered separately, constitute Identity Theft in the second degree
because of value, and the series of transactions are part of a common scheme or plan, the
transactions may be aggregated for purposes of determining the degree of Identity Theft
involved. If a person commits another crime during the commission of Identity Theft, he or she
may be prosecuted and punished separately for the other crime as well as for the Identity Theft.
Unit of Prosecution
It is clarified that the relevant unit of prosecution for Identity Theft is each unlawful use of a
means of identification or financial information. In other words, a defendant may be prosecuted
and punished separately for every instance he or she unlawfully uses the means of identification
or financial information, unless the instances constitute the same criminal conduct. Likewise,
unlawfully obtaining, possessing, or transferring the means of identification or financial
information of any individual is a separate unit of prosecution for each victim and for each
unlawful act.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Not requested.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.