SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 5033

BYSenators Pullen, Niemi and Rasmussen

Making technical corrections in the revised code of Washington.

Senate Committee on Law & Justice

Senate Hearing Date(s):January 10, 1989

Majority Report:  That Substitute Senate Bill No. 5033 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.

      Signed by Senators Pullen, Chairman; McCaslin, Vice Chairman; Hayner, Madsen, Nelson, Newhouse, Niemi, Rinehart, Talmadge, Thorsness.

Senate Staff:Joyce Ansley (786-7418)

                  January 10, 1989

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON LAW & JUSTICE, JANUARY 10, 1989

BACKGROUND:

Several RCW provisions contain unclear, ambiguous, or misleading language.  A provision which refers to the law governing inter-vivos trust creation does not clearly identify the governing statutes.  The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is incorrectly identified as the publisher of equivalent coupon issue yield.  In usury penalty provisions, gender-specific language and ambiguous terminology is used.  A provision relating to buyer cancellation of transactions is organized in a way which may confuse the reader.  Handicapped access provisions contain obsolete and misleading references to the 1973 Washington State Building Code.  A general statute of limitations provision was apparently inadvertently deleted in 1984.

SUMMARY:

A provision which generally refers to the law governing inter-vivos trust creation is replaced with specific numbered sections.  References to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco are changed to the Federal Reserve Bank Board to correctly identify the publisher of equivalent coupon issue yield.  In usury penalty provisions, gender specific language is replaced by nongender specific language.  In the same usury penalty provisions, "this act" is changed to "this chapter" to avoid ambiguity.  A provision relating to buyer cancellation of transactions is repositioned to make the procedure more understandable for the reader.  Obsolete and misleading references to the 1973 Washington State Building Code are deleted and changed to reflect 1988 designations under the Uniform Building Code.  A general statute of limitations period provision, inadvertently deleted in 1984, is replaced.

EFFECT OF PROPOSED SUBSTITUTE:

An additional reference to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is corrected.

Appropriation:    none

Revenue:    none

Fiscal Note:      none requested

Senate Committee - Testified: Marjorie Rombauer, Law Revision Commission; Dennis Cooper, Code Reviser's office; Gary Reid, Code Reviser's office