BILL REQ. #:  H-0602.1 

Read first time 01/15/09.   Referred to Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.

     AN ACT Relating to creating the new crime of abandonment of a dependent person in the fourth degree; adding a new section to chapter 9A.42 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 9A.42 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a person is guilty of the crime of abandonment of a dependent person in the fourth degree if:
     (a) The person is the parent of a child, a person entrusted with the physical custody of a child or other dependent person, a person who has assumed the responsibility to provide to a dependent person the basic necessities of life, or a person employed to provide to the child or other dependent person any of the basic necessities of life; and
     (b) The person with criminal negligence, abandons the child or other dependent person; and
     (c) As a result of being abandoned, the child or other dependent person suffers risk of bodily injury.
     (2) A parent of a newborn who transfers the newborn to a qualified person at an appropriate location pursuant to RCW 13.34.360 is not subject to criminal liability under this section.
     (3) Abandonment of a dependent person in the fourth degree is a misdemeanor.