SENATE BILL REPORT
SHB 2406
As Reported By Senate Committee On:
Human Services & Corrections, February 27, 2002
Title: An act relating to a statewide registered sex offender web site.
Brief Description: Creating a statewide registered sex offender web site.
Sponsors: House Committee on Criminal Justice & Corrections (originally sponsored by Representatives O'Brien, Ballasiotes, Lantz, Delvin, Lovick, Hurst, Morell, Conway, Veloria, Miloscia, Talcott, Kirby, Woods, Haigh and Esser).
Brief History:
Committee Activity: Human Services & Corrections: 2/20/02, 2/27/02 [DPA].
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES & CORRECTIONS
Majority Report: Do pass as amended.
Signed by Senators Hargrove, Chair; Costa, Vice Chair; Carlson, Franklin, Hewitt, Kastama, Kohl‑Welles, Long and Stevens.
Staff: Tony Rugel (786‑7754)
Background: Community notification of level II and level III sex offenders can be provided through newspaper notices, flyers, and information kept at a sheriff's department or police department. A public web site can be used in addition to current community notification procedures to provide citizens with relevant and necessary information for protection and to counteract danger created by a particular sex offender.
Summary of Amended Bill: The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs is required to create a web site with links to county web sites containing sex offender registration information. When sufficient funding is available from federal grants or other funding sources other than state funds, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) must create and maintain a publicly accessible sex offender web site. The site must contain information about all registered level III sex offenders statewide. The information required to be included on the site includes the sex offenders' names, relevant criminal convictions, addresses by hundred block, physical descriptions, and photographs. The web site must have the ability to display the sex offender's address on a map, and must allow users to search for sex offenders by county, city, zip code, last name, type of conviction, and address by hundred block.
County sheriffs must forward information regarding registered sex offenders, including notification of an offender's change in risk level, to the WASPC to aid in the creation and maintenance of the web site. The WASPC is immune from civil liability for damages arising from sex offender risk classification or information disclosures, unless they are acting with gross negligence or in bad faith.
Amended Bill Compared to Substitute Bill: The amended bill combines the original House bill and the Senate bill passed out of committee.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Requested on January 31, 2002.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: It was suggested that the House and Senate bills be combined through an amendment.
Testimony Against: None.
Testified: Tim Schellberg, WASPC (pro); Kathleen Swan, private citizen (pro).