HOUSE BILL REPORT

                  HB 2799

             As Reported By House Committee On:

                          Judiciary

Title:  An act relating to granting state‑wide warrant jurisdiction to courts of limited jurisdiction.

Brief Description:  Granting state‑wide warrant jurisdiction to courts of limited jurisdiction.

Sponsors:  Representatives Lambert, Hurst, Kagi, Benson, Lovick and Pflug.

Brief History:

  Committee Activity:

Judiciary:  2/1/00, 2/3/00 [DPS].

           Brief Summary of Substitute Bill

$Requires the Office of the Administrator for the Courts to establish a pilot program that allows courts of limited jurisdiction to enter into agreements with other courts of limited jurisdiction in the state for the processing of each other's warrants.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  Signed by 12 members:  Representatives Carrell, Republican Co-Chair; Constantine, Democratic Co-Chair; Hurst, Democratic Vice Chair; Lambert, Republican Vice Chair; Cox; Dickerson; Esser; Kastama; Lantz; Lovick; McDonald and Schindler.

Staff:  Trudes Hutcheson (786-7384).

Background:

District and municipal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction.  In criminal matters, district courts have jurisdiction over misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor offenses committed within the county and over violations of city ordinances.  Municipal courts have jurisdiction over matters arising from city ordinances and concurrent jurisdiction with district courts over misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor offenses. 

Warrants issued by a court of limited jurisdiction are enforceable within the jurisdiction of the issuing court.

Summary of Substitute Bill:

The Office of the Administrator for the Courts (OAC) must establish a pilot program for the statewide processing of warrants issued by courts of limited jurisdiction.  The OAC must establish procedures and criteria for courts of limited jurisdiction to enter into agreements with other courts of limited jurisdiction in the state to process each other's warrants when the defendant is within the processing court's jurisdiction.  The OAC must establish a formula for allocating, between the court that processed the warrant and the court that issued the warrant, any money or costs collected.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:  The substitute bill clarifies that jurisdiction to conduct preliminary proceedings on another court's warrants is granted only to those courts participating in the pilot program established by the OAC.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Requested on January 30, 2000.

Effective Date of Substitute Bill:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  Outstanding warrants are a critical problem.  It is frustrating to have to release a defendant who is subject to a bench warrant, but the court cannot hold the defendant because the warrant was issued from a different court in a different county.  There are several neighboring counties that are ready to implement this program.  Giving courts the authority to process each other's warrants will make the judges' jobs easier.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Representative Lambert, prime sponsor; Judge Robert McBeth, King County District Court, Renton Division; and Judge Peter Lukevich, King County Municipal Court, Tukwila.