AN ACT Relating to a central registry of judgments; amending RCW 4.56.200; and adding a new chapter to Title 4 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) There is created a Washington state registry of civil monetary judgments in the department of licensing. This registry shall:

(a) Receive and maintain records on all current civil monetary judgments entered in a United States district court within this state, a state district court, a state superior court, or a state court of appeals. A judgment is current if the registry has no record of the judgment being released or satisfied and the judgment is not more than ten years old;

(b) Provide information from this registry to persons licensed to make loans with real property as security, to close loans with real property as security, to be the escrow agent on loan closings with real property as security, and to insure title to real property; and

(c) Receive the record of judgment from the court in the form of a uniform commercial code financing statement similar to that specified in RCW 62A.9-402(3). Once a judgment has been filed with the department of licensing civil monetary judgment registry, the judgment shall be a judgment lien and shall encumber the title to all real and personal property of the judgment debtor that is located in this state.

(2) The department of licensing shall adopt rules to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

Sec. 2. Section 2, chapter 60, Laws of 1929 as last amended by section 117, chapter 202, Laws of 1987 and RCW 4.56.200 are each amended to read as follow:

The lien of judgments upon the real estate of the judgment debtor shall commence as follows:

(1) Judgments of the district court of the United States rendered in the county in which the real estate of the judgment debtor is situated, and judgments of the superior court for the county in which the real estate of the judgment debtor is situated, from the time of the entry thereof;

(2) Judgments of the district court of the United States rendered in any county in this state other than that in which the real estate of the judgment debtor to be affected is situated, judgments of the supreme court of this state, judgments of the court of appeals of this state, and judgments of the superior court for any county other than that in which the real estate of the judgment debtor to be affected is situated, from the time of the filing of a duly certified abstract of such judgment with the county clerk of the county in which the real estate of the judgment debtor to be affected is situated, as provided in this act;

(3) Judgments of a district court of this state rendered in the county in which the real estate of the judgment debtor is situated, from the time of the filing of a duly certified transcript of the docket of the district court with the county clerk of the county in which such judgment was rendered, and upon such filing said judgment shall become to all intents and purposes a judgment of the superior court for said county; ((~~and~~))

(4) Judgments of a district court of this state rendered in any other county in this state than that in which the real estate of the judgment debtor to be affected is situated, a transcript of the docket of which has been filed with the county clerk of the county where such judgment was rendered, from the time of filing, with the county clerk of the county in which the real estate of the judgment debtor to be affected is situated, of a duly certified abstract of the record of said judgment in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the certified transcript of the docket of said judgment of said district court was originally filed; and

(5) Judgments of a United States district court in this state, the state supreme court, a state superior court, a state court of appeals, or a state district court from the time of filing with the registry of civil monetary judgments in the department of licensing.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The court clerks of the United States district courts in this state, state district courts, state superior courts, state courts of appeals, and the state supreme court shall send to the civil monetary judgments registry of the department of licensing, upon entry of any judgment in the execution docket of that court pursuant to RCW 4.64.030, information concerning each judgment entered. The information shall be substantially in the form of a uniform commercial code financing statement described in RCW 62A.9-402(3). The judgment debtor shall be listed as the debtor, the plaintiff or plaintiffs shall be listed as the secured party, and the name of the court, cause number of the case in which the judgment was entered, amount and date of the judgment, and amount of the costs or attorney fees if not included in the judgment shall be entered in the space designated for secured property on the financing statement.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Sections 1 and 3 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 4 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. 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.