AN ACT Relating to vehicle speed limits; amending RCW 46.01.250, 46.52.130, and 46.46.020; adding a new section to chapter 46.61 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

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

Sec. 1. Section 46.08.110, chapter 12, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 125, chapter 158, Laws of 1979 and RCW 46.01.250 are each amended to read as follows:

The director shall have the power and it shall be his duty upon request and payment of the fee as provided herein to furnish under seal of the director certified copies of any records of the department, except those for confidential use only. However, the director shall not release to an insurance company or rating bureau the record of any conviction, bail forfeiture, or finding of a traffic infraction for operating a motor vehicle on (1) a highway posted at fifty-five miles per hour at a speed in excess thereof but not over the speed posted therefor on October 1, 1973; (2) a highway constructed or reconstructed and posted at fifty-five miles per hour at a speed in excess thereof but not over the speed that would have been posed prior to October 1, 1973, if the speed were set using the criteria set forth in RCW 46.61.400, 46.61.410, and 46.61.430; except in either case when conditions in the judgment of the arresting officer indicate that speeds above fifty-five miles per hour are unsafe. The director shall charge and collect therefor the actual cost to the department. Any funds accruing to the director of licensing under this section shall be certified and sent to the state treasurer and by him deposited to the credit of the highway safety fund.

Sec. 2. Section 27, chapter 21, Laws of 1961 ex. sess. as last amended by section 1, chapter 74, Laws of 1986 and RCW 46.52.130 are each amended to read as follows:

Any request for a certified abstract must specify which part is requested, and only the part requested shall be furnished. The employment driving record part shall be furnished only to the individual named in the abstract, an employer, the insurance carrier that has insurance in effect covering the employer, or a prospective employer. The other part shall be furnished only to the individual named in the abstract, the insurance carrier that has insurance in effect covering the named individual, or the insurance carrier to which the named individual has applied. The director, upon proper request, shall furnish a certified abstract covering the period of not more than the last three years, and the abstract, whenever possible, shall include an enumeration of motor vehicle accidents in which the person was driving; the total number of vehicles involved; whether the vehicles were legally parked or moving; whether the vehicles were occupied at the time of the accident; and any reported convictions, forfeitures of bail, or findings that an infraction was committed based upon a violation of any motor vehicle law. The enumeration shall include any reports of failure to appear in response to a traffic citation or failure to respond to a notice of infraction served upon the named individual by an arresting officer.

The abstract provided to an insurance company shall have excluded from it any information pertaining to any occupational driver's license when the license is issued to any person employed by another or self-employed as a motor vehicle driver who during the five years preceding the request has been issued such a license by reason of a conviction or finding of a traffic infraction involving a motor vehicle offense outside the scope of his principal employment, and who has during that period been principally employed as a motor vehicle driver deriving the major portion of his income therefrom. The abstract provided to the insurance company shall also exclude any information pertaining to law enforcement officers or fire fighters as defined in RCW 41.26.030, or any member of the Washington state patrol, while driving official vehicles in the performance of occupational duty during an emergency situation if the chief of the officer's or fire fighter's department certifies on the accident report that the actions of the officer or fire fighter were reasonable under the circumstances as they existed at the time of the accident.

The abstract provided the insurance company shall further exclude any conviction, bail forfeiture, or finding of a traffic infraction for operating a motor vehicle on (1) a highway posted at fifty-five miles per hour at a speed in excess thereof but not over the speed posted therefor on October 1, 1973; (2) a highway constructed or reconstructed and posted at fifty-five miles per hour at a speed in excess thereof but not over the speed that would have been posted prior to October 1, 1973, if the speed were set using the criteria set forth in RCW 46.61.400, 46.61.410, and 46.61.430; except in either case when conditions in the judgment of the arresting officer indicate that speeds above fifty-five miles per hour are unsafe.

The director shall collect for each abstract the sum of three dollars and fifty cents which shall be deposited in the highway safety fund.

Any insurance company or its agent receiving the certified abstract shall use it exclusively for its own underwriting purposes and shall not divulge any of the information contained in it to a third party. No policy of insurance may be canceled, nonrenewed, or denied on the basis of such information unless the policyholder was determined to be at fault. No insurance company or its agent for underwriting purposes relating to the operation of commercial motor vehicles may use any information contained in the abstract relative to any person's operation of motor vehicles while not engaged in such employment.

Any employer or prospective employer receiving the certified abstract shall use it exclusively for his own purpose to determine whether the licensee should be permitted to operate a commercial vehicle or school bus upon the public highways of this state and shall not divulge any information contained in it to a third party.

Any violation of this section is a gross misdemeanor.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 46.61 RCW to read as follows:

A person operating a motor vehicle on (1) a highway posted at fifty-five miles per hour at a speed greater than fifty-five miles per hour but not over the speed posted for it on October 1, 1973; (2) a highway constructed or reconstructed and posted at fifty-five miles per hour at a speed in excess thereof but not over the speed that would have been posted before October 1, 1973, if the speed were set using the criteria set forth in RCW 46.61.400, 46.61.410, and 46.61.430; except in either case when conditions in the judgment of the arresting officer indicate that speeds above fifty-five miles per hour are unsafe, shall be given a notice of the traffic infraction of energy waste, for which the maximum monetary penalty pursuant to RCW 46.63.110 shall be twelve dollars. If 23 U.S.C. 154, relating to the national maximum speed limit, is repealed, this section is of no further force or effect.

Sec. 4. Section 4, chapter 284, Laws of 1971 ex. sess. as last amended by section 7, chapter 164, Laws of 1983 and RCW 46.65.020 are each amended to read as follows:

As used in this chapter, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, an habitual offender means any person, resident or nonresident, who has accumulated convictions or findings that the person committed a traffic infraction as defined in RCW 46.20.270, or, if a minor, has violations recorded with the department of licensing, for separate and distinct offenses as described in either subsection (1) or (2) below committed within a five-year period, as evidenced by the records maintained in the department of licensing: PROVIDED, That where more than one described offense is committed within a six-hour period such multiple offenses shall, on the first such occasion, be treated as one offense for the purposes of this chapter:

(1) Three or more convictions, singularly or in combination, of the following offenses:

(a) Vehicular homicide as defined in RCW 46.61.520;

(b) Vehicular assault as defined in RCW 46.61.522;

(d) Driving a motor vehicle while his or her license, permit, or privilege to drive has been suspended or revoked;

(e) Failure of the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting in the injury or death of any person or damage to any vehicle which is driven or attended by any person to immediately stop such vehicle at the scene of such accident or as close thereto as possible and to forthwith return to and in every event remain at, the scene of such accident until he has fulfilled the requirements of RCW 46.52.020;

(f) Reckless driving as defined in RCW 46.61.500;

(g) Being in physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug as defined in RCW 46.61.504; or

(h) Attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle as defined in RCW 46.61.024;

(2) Twenty or more convictions or findings that the person committed a traffic infraction for separate and distinct offenses, singularly or in combination, in the operation of a motor vehicle that are required to be reported to the department of licensing other than the offenses of driving with an expired driver's license and not having a driver's license in the operator's immediate possession. Such convictions or findings shall include those for offenses enumerated in subsection (1) of this section when taken with and added to those offenses described herein but shall not include convictions or findings for any nonmoving violation or for the infraction of energy waste as defined in section 3 of this act. No person may be considered an habitual offender under this subsection unless at least three convictions have occurred within the three hundred sixty-five days immediately preceding the last conviction.

The offenses included in subsections (1) and (2) of this section are deemed to include offenses under any valid town, city, or county ordinance substantially conforming to the provisions cited in subsections (1) and (2) or amendments thereto, and any federal law, or any law of another state, including subdivisions thereof, substantially conforming to the aforesaid state statutory provisions.

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.