BILL REQ. #:  S-0344.5 

Read first time 02/21/2003.   Referred to Committee on Financial Services, Insurance & Housing.

     AN ACT Relating to requiring financial institutions to verify its customers' identification; adding a new section to chapter 30.22 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that financial fraud and identity theft crimes are increasingly too common. Further, the legislature finds that such crimes can be deterred and prevented if financial institutions verify the identity of their customers who make in-person withdrawal transactions. The legislature declares that to prevent such crimes from initially taking place, all financial institutions doing business in the state must be diligent in verifying identification before processing withdrawal requests.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 30.22 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Financial institutions must verify the identity of their customers before processing an in-person withdrawal request. Account holders who do not want their identity verified may opt out by providing written notice to the financial institution.
     (2) Verification protocols will be determined by each financial institution, and must include at least two forms of identification, one of which may be an item of government or financial institution-issued photo identification.
     (3) All monetary losses to account holders that result from failure to verify identification will be borne by the financial institution.