BILL REQ. #:  Z-0731.1 

Read first time 02/04/14.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to enacting recommendations of the sunshine committee; reenacting and amending RCW 42.56.240; adding a new section to chapter 42.17A RCW; and repealing RCW 42.56.480 and 66.16.090.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 42.56.240 and 2013 c 315 s 2, 2013 c 190 s 7, and 2013 c 183 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     The following investigative, law enforcement, and crime victim information is exempt from public inspection and copying under this chapter:
     (1) Specific intelligence information and specific investigative records compiled by investigative, law enforcement, and penology agencies, and state agencies vested with the responsibility to discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is essential to effective law enforcement or for the protection of any person's right to privacy;
     (2) Information revealing the identity of persons who are witnesses to or victims of crime or who file complaints with investigative, law enforcement, or penology agencies, other than the commission, if disclosure would endanger any person's life, physical safety, or property. If at the time a complaint is filed the complainant, victim, or witness indicates a desire for disclosure or nondisclosure, such desire shall govern((. However, all complaints filed with the commission about any elected official or candidate for public office must be made in writing and signed by the complainant under oath));
     (3) Any records of investigative reports prepared by any state, county, municipal, or other law enforcement agency pertaining to sex offenses contained in chapter 9A.44 RCW or sexually violent offenses as defined in RCW 71.09.020, which have been transferred to the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs for permanent electronic retention and retrieval pursuant to RCW 40.14.070(2)(b);
     (4) License applications under RCW 9.41.070; copies of license applications or information on the applications may be released to law enforcement or corrections agencies;
     (5) Information revealing the identity of child victims of sexual assault who are under age eighteen. Identifying information means the child victim's name, address, location, photograph, and in cases in which the child victim is a relative or stepchild of the alleged perpetrator, identification of the relationship between the child and the alleged perpetrator;
     (6) The statewide gang database referenced in RCW 43.43.762;
     (7) Data from the electronic sales tracking system established in RCW 69.43.165;
     (8) Information submitted to the statewide unified sex offender notification and registration program under RCW 36.28A.040(6) by a person for the purpose of receiving notification regarding a registered sex offender, including the person's name, residential address, and e-mail address;
     (9) Personally identifying information collected by law enforcement agencies pursuant to local security alarm system programs and vacation crime watch programs. Nothing in this subsection shall be interpreted so as to prohibit the legal owner of a residence or business from accessing information regarding his or her residence or business; ((and))
     (10) The felony firearm offense conviction database of felony firearm offenders established in RCW 43.43.822; ((and))
     (11) The identity of a state employee or officer who has in good faith filed a complaint with an ethics board, as provided in RCW 42.52.410, or who has in good faith reported improper governmental action, as defined in RCW 42.40.020, to the auditor or other public official, as defined in RCW 42.40.020; and
     (12) The following security threat group information collected and maintained by the department of corrections pursuant to RCW 72.09.745: (a) Information that could lead to the identification of a person's security threat group status, affiliation, or activities; (b) information that reveals specific security threats associated with the operation and activities of security threat groups; and (c) information that identifies the number of security threat group members, affiliates, or associates.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 42.17A RCW to read as follows:
     All complaints filed with the commission about any elected official or candidate for public office must be made in writing and signed by the complainant under oath.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:
     (1) RCW 42.56.480 (Inactive programs) and 2005 c 274 s 428; and
     (2) RCW 66.16.090 (Record of individual purchases confidential--Penalty for disclosure) and 1933 ex.s. c 62 s 89.