BILL REQ. #:  H-4947.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/06/04.   

     AN ACT Relating to increasing marriage license fees to fund domestic violence programs; amending RCW 36.18.010 and 70.123.030; and adding a new section to chapter 70.123 RCW.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 36.18.010 and 2002 c 294 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     County auditors or recording officers shall collect the following fees for their official services:
     (1) For recording instruments, for the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, five dollars; for each additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar. The fee for recording multiple transactions contained in one instrument will be calculated for each transaction requiring separate indexing as required under RCW 65.04.050 as follows: The fee for each title or transaction is the same fee as the first page of any additional recorded document; the fee for additional pages is the same fee as for any additional pages for any recorded document; the fee for the additional pages may be collected only once and may not be collected for each title or transaction;
     (2) For preparing and certifying copies, for the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, three dollars; for each additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar;
     (3) For preparing noncertified copies, for each page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar;
     (4) For administering an oath or taking an affidavit, with or without seal, two dollars;
     (5) For issuing a marriage license, eight dollars, (this fee includes taking necessary affidavits, filing returns, indexing, and transmittal of a record of the marriage to the state registrar of vital statistics), plus ten dollars to be transmitted monthly to the state treasury for deposit in the domestic violence prevention account, plus an additional five-dollar fee for use and support of the prevention of child abuse and neglect activities to be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer and deposited in the state general fund plus an additional ten-dollar fee to be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer and deposited in the state general fund. The legislature intends to appropriate an amount at least equal to the revenue generated by this fee for the purposes of the displaced homemaker act, chapter 28B.04 RCW;
     (6) For searching records per hour, eight dollars;
     (7) For recording plats, fifty cents for each lot except cemetery plats for which the charge shall be twenty-five cents per lot; also one dollar for each acknowledgment, dedication, and description: PROVIDED, That there shall be a minimum fee of twenty-five dollars per plat;
     (8) For recording of miscellaneous records not listed above, for the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, five dollars; for each additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar;
     (9) For modernization and improvement of the recording and indexing system, a surcharge as provided in RCW 36.22.170((.));
     (10) For recording an emergency nonstandard document as provided in RCW 65.04.047, fifty dollars, in addition to all other applicable recording fees((.));
     (11) For recording instruments, a surcharge as provided in RCW 36.22.178.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 70.123 RCW to read as follows:
     The domestic violence prevention account is created in the state treasury. All receipts from the marriage license fee imposed for deposit in the domestic violence prevention act under RCW 36.18.010(5) must be deposited into the account. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used only for funding nonshelter community-based services for victims of domestic violence.

Sec. 3   RCW 70.123.030 and 1989 1st ex.s. c 9 s 235 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department of social and health services, in consultation with the state department of health, and individuals or groups having experience and knowledge of the problems of victims of domestic violence, shall:
     (1) Establish minimum standards for shelters applying for grants from the department under this chapter. Classifications may be made dependent upon size, geographic location, and population needs;
     (2) Receive grant applications for the development and establishment of shelters for victims of domestic violence;
     (3) Distribute funds, within forty-five days after approval, to those shelters meeting departmental standards;
     (4) Evaluate biennially each shelter receiving departmental funds for compliance with the established minimum standards; ((and))
     (5) Review the minimum standards each biennium to ensure applicability to community and client needs; and
     (6) Administer funds available from the domestic violence prevention account under section 2 of this act and establish minimum standards for nonshelter community-based services receiving funds administered by the department.