BILL REQ. #:  H-0440.1 

Prefiled 01/09/09. Read first time 01/12/09.   Referred to Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.

     AN ACT Relating to logging the telephone calls of residents of the special commitment center; adding a new section to chapter 71.09 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 42.56 RCW; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds and declares that the special commitment center increases public safety by providing treatment in a secure environment to civilly committed sexually violent predators. The legislature further finds that the residents of the special commitment center may make harassing telephone calls to persons in the community with no record of the call being made, which runs counter to the center's goals of public safety and treatment. It is therefore the intent of the legislature to increase public safety and improve treatment in the special commitment center.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 71.09 RCW to read as follows:
     The department shall maintain a log of phone calls made by residents of the special commitment center. The log shall indicate the date and time when each phone call was made, the length of the call, the name of the resident who made the call, and the number called. The department may contract with a private organization to maintain the log.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 42.56 RCW to read as follows:
     Logs of telephone calls made by residents of the special commitment center maintained under section 2 of this act are exempt from public inspection and copying under this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not provided by June 30, 2009, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and void.