BILL REQ. #:  H-0702.1 

Read first time 01/30/13.   Referred to Committee on Local Government.

     AN ACT Relating to information about legal financial obligations; amending RCW 36.23.110; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that legal financial obligations can be a significant problem for people trying to satisfy criminal penalties. Further, the county-based system of collecting legal financial obligations makes it difficult to ascertain both how successful people are in satisfying these obligations and how many people fail to satisfy these obligations. Therefore, the legislature intends to collect the information necessary to ascertain the success and efficiency of the county-based system of collecting legal financial obligations by changing the form of the annual report required to be submitted to the legislature.

Sec. 2   RCW 36.23.110 and 2003 c 379 s 20 are each amended to read as follows:
     The Washington association of county officials, in consultation with county clerks, shall determine a funding formula for allocation of moneys to counties for purposes of collecting legal financial obligations, and report this formula to the legislature and the administrative office of the courts by September 1, 2003. The Washington association of county officials shall report on:
     (1) The amounts of legal financial obligations collected by each of the county clerks;
     (2) The number of individuals, by county, owing legal financial obligations;
     (3) The total amount of outstanding debt from the individuals in subsection (2) of this section;
     (4) The amount of outstanding legal financial obligation debt from restitution;
     (5) The amount of outstanding legal financial obligation debt from fines and fees;
     (6) The amount of outstanding legal financial obligation debt from collections costs, including interest and clerks fees;
     (7) The number of cases of people making regular payments. "Regular payments" is defined as payments that are less than sixty days past due;
     (8) The number of notices of delinquency sent out;
     (9) The number of individuals sent notices of delinquency;
     (10) The number of notices to appear for nonpayment issued;
     (11) The number of individuals sent notices for nonpayment;
     (12) The number of individuals whose wages were garnisheed;
     (13) The number of tax refunds intercepted;
     (14) The number of individuals issued property tax liens;
     (15) The number of warrants for failure to appear issued;
     (16) The number of individuals for whom warrants were issued;
     (17) The total number of outstanding warrants for failure to appear;
     (18) The total number of outstanding warrants for nonpayment;
     (19) The number of people jailed for failure to appear;
     (20) The number of people jailed for nonpayment; and
     (21) The average number of days spent in jail for nonpayment.
The report shall be submitted to the appropriate committees of the legislature no later than December 1, ((2004)) 2013, and annually thereafter.