BILL REQ. #:  Z-0338.1 

Read first time 01/28/2003.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     AN ACT Relating to sharing of appraisal information in condemnation proceedings; and amending RCW 8.25.120.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 8.25.120 and 1969 ex.s. c 236 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) When making an initial offer to purchase land, real estate, premises, or other property or property rights, an agency's offer may be accompanied by a written appraisal or a written explanation of the basis and method upon which the agency relied in establishing the amount of just compensation offered to a property owner. The property owner may provide an appraisal or a written explanation of the basis and method for the property owner's opinion of value to the agency.
     (2) Appraisals or written explanations of the basis and method by which a party's offers were made, as provided under subsection (1) of this section, are provided solely for settlement purposes and are not admissible as evidence for any purpose after the commencement of a condemnation action, except that a party may offer its own appraisal information in any proceeding.
     (3) After the commencement of a condemnation action, upon motion of either the condemnor or condemnee, the court may order, upon such terms and conditions as are fair and equitable, the production and exchange of the written conclusions of all the appraisers of the parties as to just compensation owed to the condemnee, as prepared for the purpose of the condemnation action, and the comparable sales, if any, used by such appraisers. The court shall enter such order only after assurance that there will be mutual, reciprocal, and contemporaneous disclosures of similar information between the parties.