READ FIRST TIME 02/05/10.   

     AN ACT Relating to bail practices and procedures; creating new sections; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature intends to appoint a panel of experts to study bail practices and procedures. The bail system must be examined in a comprehensive and well-considered manner from all aspects including, but not limited to, judicial discretion, bail amounts and procedures, public safety, variations in county practices, constitutional restraints, and cost to local government. The variety of practices and procedures requires that a panel of experts study the issue and report its recommendation to the legislature.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1)(a) A work group on bail practices is established within existing resources. The work group must consist of the following members:
     (i) One member from each of the two largest caucuses of the senate, appointed by the president of the senate;
     (ii) One member from each of the two largest caucuses of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;
     (iii) The chief justice of the Washington state supreme court or the chief justice's designee;
     (iv) A superior court judge, appointed by the superior court judges' association;
     (v) A district or municipal court judge, appointed by the district and municipal court judges' association;
     (vi) The governor or the governor's designee;
     (vii) The secretary of the Washington state department of corrections or the secretary's designee;
     (viii) The director of the Washington state department of licensing or the director's designee;
     (ix) The Washington state insurance commissioner or the commissioner's designee;
     (x) Two prosecutors, appointed by the Washington association of prosecuting attorneys or designees of the prosecutors;
     (xi) Two attorneys selected by separate associations of attorneys whose members have practices that focus on representing criminal defendants;
     (xii) One police officer and one deputy sheriff, selected by a statewide association of such officers and deputies;
     (xiii) A representative of a statewide association of city governments, selected by the association;
     (xiv) A representative of a statewide association of counties, selected by the association;
     (xv) A representative employed as an adult corrections officer, selected by a statewide association of such officers;
     (xvi) A representative from an entity representing corrections officers at a local county jail in which adult offenders are in custody and located in any county with a population in excess of one million persons, selected by the entity;
     (xvii) A representative of a statewide organization concerned primarily with the protection of individual liberties, selected by the organization;
     (xviii) A representative of a statewide association of advocates who work on behalf of victims and survivors of violent crimes, selected by the association;
     (xix) A representative of the bail bond enforcement industry, chosen by a statewide association of bail bond enforcement agents;
     (xx) A representative of the bail bond industry, selected by a statewide association of bail companies; and
     (xxi) A representative of a statewide consumer advocacy organization with at least thirty thousand members, selected by the organization.
     (b) The work group shall choose its cochairs from among its legislative membership. The legislative cochairs shall convene the initial meeting of the work group.
     (2) The work group shall review, at a minimum, the following issues:
     (a) All aspects of bail, paying particular attention to legislation affecting bail and pretrial release introduced during the 2010 legislative session;
     (b) A validated risk assessment tool that measures or predicts the likelihood that an offender will exhibit violent behavior if released and whether judges should use this tool at bail hearings;
     (c) Bail practices by county, including the processes used to seek and grant bail as well as the standards by which bail is granted;
     (d) Whether, or to what extent, uniformity of bail practices should be required by state law;
     (e) The characteristics of the federal system;
     (f) The benefits of competitive freedom of government regulation in the pricing of bail bonds;
     (g) The interests of crime victims in being notified of a person's release on bail;
     (h) The interests of counties and cities that maintain municipal courts;
     (i) Legal and constitutional constraints in granting or denying bail;
     (j) Whether the existing regulatory, judicial, or statutory constraints on bail should be revised; and
     (k) The pretrial release system.
     (3) The work group shall use staff from senate committee services and the house of representatives office of program research and meet in state facilities that do not charge for use.
     (4) Legislative members of the work group must be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 44.04.120. Nonlegislative members, except those representing an employer or organization, are entitled to be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.
     (5) The work group may organize itself in a manner and adopt rules of procedure that it determines are most conducive to the timely completion of its charge.
     (6) The work group shall report its findings and recommendations to the Washington state supreme court, the governor, and appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2010.
     (7) This section expires December 31, 2010.