S-604                 _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 3377

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Senators Talmadge, Halsan, Moore, Fleming, Granlund, Wojahn, Lee and Stratton

Read first time 1/28/85 and referred to Committee on Judiciary.

AN ACT Relating to child abuse convictions; and adding a new section to chapter 43.43 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 43.43 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) Notwithstanding any provision of RCW 43.43.700 through 43.43.810 to the contrary, the Washington state patrol shall furnish a transcript of the conviction record pertaining to any person of whom the Washington state patrol has a record upon the written request of any business or organization that deals primarily with the care, supervision, education, recreation, or guidance of children for the purpose of conducting preemployment, preinvolvement, or postemployment evaluations of employees, prospective employees, volunteers, and prospective volunteers who, in the course of employment or involvement, may have access to children.  As used in this section, conviction record means criminal history record information as defined in RCW 10.97.030(1) relating to an incident involving sexual contact performed with or on a child by the subject of the inquiry which has led to a conviction or other disposition adverse to the subject, as defined in RCW 10.97.030(4).

          (2) Any business or organization making inquiry to the state patrol pursuant to subsection (1) of this section must first notify all employees, volunteers, and applicants that such inquiry will be made.  No such inquiry shall be made regarding any employee, volunteer, or applicant until such notice has been made.  The business or organization shall notify  the subject of the inquiry of the state patrol's response within thirty days after receipt of the record.  The employer shall make the record available for examination by its subject and shall notify the subject of such availability.

          (3) The Washington state patrol shall charge fees for disseminating records pursuant to this section which will cover, as nearly as practicable, the direct and indirect costs to the Washington state patrol of disseminating such records.

          (4) Each business or organization that deals primarily with the care, supervision, education, recreation, or guidance of children shall check all its employees and volunteers who may have access to children for criminal convictions for sex offenses involving children.  If any employee or volunteer does have a conviction for a sex offense involving children, the fact of the conviction shall be reported in writing by the business or organization to the parents or legal guardians of all children participating in the activities of the business or organization.

          (5) Neither the section, its employees, nor any other agency or employee of the state nor any employee of the business or organization is liable for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence, or any other claim in connection with any dissemination of information pursuant to this section or RCW 43.43.760.

          (6) The Washington state patrol may adopt rules and forms to implement this section and to provide for security and privacy of information disseminated pursuant hereto, giving first priority to the criminal justice requirements of chapter 43.43 RCW.  Such rules may include requirements for users, audits of users, and other procedures to prevent use of criminal history record information inconsistent with this section.

          (7) Nothing in this section shall authorize an employer to make an inquiry not otherwise authorized by law, or be construed to affect the policy of the state declared in RCW 9.96A.010, encouraging the employment of ex-offenders.