BILL REQ. #:  H-0371.1 

Read first time 01/28/09.   Referred to Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.

     AN ACT Relating to membership of the Washington state forensic investigations council; amending RCW 43.103.040; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that it is in the interests of justice and public safety that the work of the state crime laboratory remains above criticism. The legislature further finds that recent events have called into question the truth of reports from the state crime laboratory. Therefore, it is the legislature's intent that oversight of the laboratory by the Washington state forensic investigations council must be strengthened with the addition of members, including attorneys who regularly represent criminal defendants and a scientist from a state university in the state of Washington.

Sec. 2   RCW 43.103.040 and 1995 c 398 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     The council shall consist of ((twelve)) fifteen members who shall be selected as follows: One county coroner; one county prosecutor; one county prosecutor who also serves as ex officio county coroner; one county medical examiner; one county sheriff; one chief of police; the chief of the state patrol; two members of a county legislative authority; one pathologist who is currently in private practice; ((and)) two members of a city legislative authority; two attorneys whose practice of law includes significant experience in the area of representation of clients charged with criminal offenses; and one member with a doctorate in a physical science who is a tenured faculty member at a university or college in the state of Washington which is a member institution of a recognized accrediting association and has operated as a nonprofit college or university delivering on-site classroom instruction for a minimum of twenty consecutive years within the state of Washington, and has an annual enrollment of at least seven hundred full-time equivalent students.
     The governor shall appoint members to the council from among the nominees submitted for each position as follows: The Washington association of county officials shall submit two nominees each for the coroner position and the medical examiner position; the Washington state association of counties shall submit two nominees each for the two county legislative authority positions; the association of Washington cities shall submit two nominees each for the two city legislative authority positions; the Washington association of prosecuting attorneys shall submit two nominees each for the county prosecutor-ex officio county coroner and for the county prosecutor position; the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs shall submit two nominees each for the county sheriff position and the chief of police position; ((and)) the Washington association of pathologists shall submit two nominees for the private pathologist position; the Washington association of criminal defense lawyers and the Washington defender association shall each submit two nominees for the criminal defense attorney positions; and the president of an institution of higher education as defined in RCW 28B.10.016(4) or the president of a nonprofit college or university delivering on-site classroom instruction for a minimum of twenty consecutive years within the state of Washington, and has an annual enrollment of at least seven hundred full-time equivalent students may each forward to the governor a nomination of a member of the faculty at the college or university at which the president serves. No president shall be required to submit a nomination, and the governor shall not be restricted to appointing a member, to the council from among individuals nominated by a president.