H-3959              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1494

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Representatives Scott, Padden, Leonard, Moyer, Cole, Haugen, Wang, S. Wilson, Lewis, Patrick, Winsley, P. King, Pruitt, Miller, K. Wilson and Locke

Read first time 1/18/88 and referred to Committee on Judiciary.

AN ACT Relating to limitation of actions; adding a new section to chapter 4.16 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 4.16 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) A cause of action based on intentional conduct brought for recovery of damages for injury suffered as a result of childhood sexual abuse shall not be deemed to have accrued until the discovery by the complainant of both the injury and its cause.

          (2) As used in this section, "childhood sexual abuse" means any  act committed by the defendant against a complainant who was less than sixteen years of age at the time of the act and which act would have been a violation of chapter 9A.44 RCW or prior laws of similar effect at the time the act was committed.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     Section 1 of this act applies to all causes of action commenced on or after the effective date of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.