BILL REQ. #:  H-3782.2 

Prefiled 01/08/10. Read first time 01/11/10.   Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions & Insurance.

     AN ACT Relating to protecting consumers from unfair practices by establishing criteria for the dissemination of credit and court record information contained in a consumer's tenant screening report; amending RCW 19.182.110; adding new sections to chapter 19.182 RCW; creating new sections; repealing RCW 59.18.257; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that residential landlords frequently use a type of credit report more commonly known as a tenant screening report in evaluating and selecting tenants for their rental properties. These tenant screening reports frequently contain misleading, incomplete, or inaccurate information about: Eviction lawsuits where the landlord was unsuccessful and the tenant prevailed; protection orders the tenant obtained for protection against domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault; or other court records that, although not predictive of an applicant's suitability for a residential tenancy, are often cited by housing providers as a basis for rejecting rental applicants. This use of court records unfairly diminishes the housing opportunities of many qualified rental applicants, and impairs the access of residential tenants to their day in court. These court records threaten a tenant's future housing prospects irrespective as to the outcome of an action. The costs of tenant screening are passed on to applicants in the form of screening fees, and applicants who apply at multiple housing providers must pay repeated screening fees for successive reports containing the same information.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   This act may be known and cited as the fair tenant screening act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 19.182 RCW to read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout this section and RCW 19.182.005 through 19.182.150 unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Comprehensive screening report" means a tenant screening report that contains all of the following:
     (a) A consumer report concerning the prospective tenant prepared by a nationwide consumer reporting agency no more than ninety days preceding the date of the tenant screening;
     (b) A report containing the prospective tenant's criminal history; and
     (c) A report containing the prospective tenant's eviction history.
     (2) "Criminal history" means a report containing or summarizing the contents of any records of the prospective tenant's arrest, indictment, criminal conviction, or other adjudication of a crime, including registration or duty to register as a sex offender with any state, if any, obtained after a search for such records in every state where the prospective tenant has reported living in the seven years preceding the report date.
     (3) "Eviction history" means a report containing or summarizing the contents of any records of eviction suits or judicial foreclosure actions concerning the prospective tenant, obtained after a search for such records in every state where the prospective tenant has reported living in the seven years preceding the report date.
     (4) "Eviction suit" means a civil action for unlawful detainer, forcible detainer, ejectment, or other claim in which the plaintiff seeks to gain or recover possession of residential real property from one or more defendants.
     (5) "Nationwide consumer reporting agency" has the same meaning as the term "consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis" is defined in 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681a(p).
     (6) "Prospective landlord" means a landlord, as defined in RCW 59.18.030, or a person who advertises, solicits, offers, or otherwise holds a dwelling unit out as available for rent to a prospective tenant.
     (7) "Prospective tenant" means a tenant or a person who has applied for residential housing governed under chapter 59.18 RCW.
     (8) "Qualified victim protection records" means:
     (a) Records or information concerning any judicial or administrative proceeding in which the person, about whom the records or information pertains, sought to obtain any order of protection from domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, harassment, or other violent crime, including any petition or action for a protection order under chapter 9A.46, 10.14, 10.99, 26.09, 26.26, or 26.50 RCW, or any other law;
     (b) Records or information concerning any judicial or administrative proceeding in which the person, about whom the records or information pertains, exercised or attempted to exercise any right or obtain any benefit available specifically or exclusively to victims of violence, such as, but not limited to, the early termination of a rental agreement under RCW 59.18.575;
     (c) Records or information indicating that the person, about whom the records or information pertains, asserted that a claim or defense was available to the person in any judicial or administrative proceeding by reason of the person's status as a victim of violence, such as in a proceeding under chapter 49.60 RCW; or
     (d) Any other records or information indicating that the person, about whom the records or information pertains, is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or protected by a court order.
     "Qualified victim protection records" does not include records or information tending to indicate that the person, about whom the records or information pertains, was a perpetrator of sexual assault, harassment, or violent crime.
     (9) "Report date" means the date on which a tenant screening report is sent to a person or entity.
     (10) "Revised tenant screening report" means a tenant screening report that corrects, updates, or otherwise modifies a prior tenant screening report.
     (11) "Screening service" means any consumer reporting agency that provides a tenant screening report to any person or entity.
     (12) "Tenant" has the same meaning as in RCW 59.18.030.
     (13) "Tenant screening" means seeking or obtaining a consumer report about a prospective tenant or using the consumer report in deciding whether to make or accept an offer for residential rental property to or from a prospective tenant.
     (14) "Tenant screening report" means a consumer report concerning a prospective tenant that is prepared, transmitted, accessed, used, or expected to be used or collected in whole or in part for tenant screening purposes.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 19.182 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Before sending a tenant screening report to any person or entity, the screening service must require the person requesting the screening report to specify the mailing address, fax number, or other alternative address, which may be an electronic mail address, at which the prospective tenant has agreed to receive the materials required under this section, as well as any other communications from the screening service.
     (2) If a screening service provides a tenant screening report to a person or entity concerning a prospective tenant, the screening service must:
     (a) Within forty-eight hours of the report date, provide the prospective tenant with an identical copy of the tenant screening report's entire written contents; and
     (b) Within forty-eight hours of the report date, provide the prospective tenant with a verbatim transcript or detailed written summary of the tenant screening report's nonwritten contents, if any.
     (3) If a screening service has issued a tenant screening report concerning a prospective tenant, the screening service must, for sixty days following the report date:
     (a) Provide the prospective tenant with a revised tenant screening report within forty-eight hours of making any update, correction, or other change in the contents of the original tenant screening report; and
     (b) Provide a copy of the tenant screening report or most recently revised tenant screening report to any prospective landlord who has been authorized by the prospective tenant to receive the report within forty-eight hours of a request.
     (4) A screening service that has accepted a fee for issuing a tenant screening report concerning a prospective tenant may not, for sixty days following the report date, accept any additional compensation for providing any reports required under subsection (3) of this section. A screening service must maintain reasonable procedures to ensure that it does not collect more than one fee for issuing tenant screening reports concerning the same prospective tenant within a sixty-day period.
     (5) A screening service or prospective landlord must promptly refund any fee collected in violation of this section. If a screening service or prospective landlord fails within one week to refund a fee collected in violation of this section, a rebuttable presumption arises that the violation was willful.
     (6) This section does not limit a prospective tenant's rights or the duties of a screening service as otherwise provided in this chapter or chapter 59.18 RCW.

Sec. 5   RCW 19.182.110 and 1993 c 476 s 13 are each amended to read as follows:
     If a person takes an adverse action with respect to a consumer that is based, in whole or in part, on information contained in a consumer report, the person shall:
     (1) Provide written notice of the adverse action to the consumer, except verbal notice may be given by a person in an adverse action involving a business regulated by the Washington utilities and transportation commission ((or involving an application for the rental or leasing of residential real estate)) if such verbal notice does not impair a consumer's ability to obtain a credit report without charge under RCW 19.182.100(2); ((and))
     (2) Provide the consumer with the name, address, and telephone number of the consumer reporting agency that furnished the report to the person; and
     (3) If the adverse action involves an application for the rental or leasing of residential real estate, the written notice must contain the reasons for the adverse action.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   A new section is added to chapter 19.182 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A consumer reporting agency may not make a tenant screening report that contains any of the following items of information about a prospective tenant:
     (a) Eviction suits, unless the eviction suit resulted in a judgment or other adjudication that is less than seven years old in which the consumer was found to be a responsible party. For the purposes of this subsection, a consumer is deemed to have been a responsible party only if:
     (i) The consumer's right to possession of the premises to which the eviction suit related had not been terminated by a foreclosure sale within ninety days of the eviction suit;
     (ii) A judgment or other order was entered in the eviction suit finding that the party was guilty of unlawful detainer or otherwise in unlawful possession of the premises; and
     (iii) The judgment or order has not been vacated, expunged, sealed, or similarly impaired;
     (b) Qualified victim protection records; or
     (c) Other information prohibited from disclosure under RCW 19.182.040.
     (2) Any person who violates this section is liable to the consumer for any other amount as authorized under this section and the amount of the consumer's actual damages and costs of the action together with reasonable attorneys' fees as determined by the court. A screening service that willfully fails to comply with any requirement imposed under this section in connection with a tenant or prospective tenant is liable to the tenant or prospective tenant in the amount of one thousand dollars for each willful violation.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   A new section is added to chapter 19.182 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Before requesting or obtaining a tenant screening report about a prospective tenant, a prospective landlord must obtain from the prospective tenant a mailing address, fax number, or other alternative address, which may be an electronic mail address, at which the prospective tenant has agreed to receive communications from the screening service, including copies of any tenant screening reports.
     (2) A prospective landlord may not charge any tenant screening costs to a prospective tenant who provided the prospective landlord with a comprehensive screening report within sixty days of the report date.
     (3) If the prospective landlord uses a screening service, the landlord must notify a prospective tenant of his or her right to avoid tenant screening fees by providing a comprehensive screening report.
     (4) This section does not preclude a prospective landlord from seeking or obtaining background information about a prospective tenant at the prospective landlord's own expense.
     (5) A prospective landlord who takes any adverse action toward a prospective tenant must make the disclosures as required under this chapter and 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681m.
     (6) Any prospective landlord who violates this section is liable to the prospective tenant for the amount of the prospective tenant's actual damages and costs of the action together with reasonable attorneys' fees as determined by the court. However, where a prospective landlord has willfully failed to comply with any requirement imposed under this section, the prospective tenant must also be awarded a monetary penalty of one thousand dollars for each willful violation.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   RCW 59.18.257 (Screening of tenants -- Costs--Notice to tenant -- Violation) and 1991 c 194 s 3 are each repealed.