H-1014              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1767

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representatives Van Luven, Hargrove, Padden, Crane, P. King, Patrick and Schmidt

Read first time 2/3/89 and referred to Committees on Judiciary/Appropriations.

AN ACT Relating to recovery of certain fees and costs against the state; and adding new sections to chapter 4.84 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.   A new section is added to chapter 4.84 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) In all causes of action and administrative proceedings, including appeals, in which the state of Washington is a party, the state shall be liable for all reasonable attorneys' fees, accounting fees, and costs when the state is not the prevailing party.

          (2) In determining whether a party is the prevailing party, the court or trier of fact shall consider whether that party obtained a favorable final judgment on the merits on ninety percent of the material issues presented.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 4.84 RCW to read as follows:

          Section 1 of this act applies to all actions or administrative proceedings commenced on or after January 1, 1990.

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.