Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Judiciary Committee

HB 1071

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Amends form year designations throughout the Revised Code of Washington by removing references to any specific century and instead denoting the space to insert the year as follows: "(year)".

Background:

The Statute Law Committee.

The Statute Law Committee employs the Code Reviser and oversees the functions and performance of the Code Reviser's Office. The Statute Law Committee regularly requests bills making technical changes to the Revised Code of Washington.

Form Year Designations.

Throughout the Revised Code of Washington are provisions directing that certain documents must be filed or used in substantially the form specified in the particular statute. Examples of such forms include:

letters of administration;
declaration of completion of guardianship;
form of subpoena; and
form of execution.

Generally, somewhere on the form there is a space where reference to a date is to be inserted. In many statutory forms the century is specified as "19 . . ." or "A.D., 19 . . .".

Summary of Bill:

References in a variety of forms throughout the Revised Code of Washington are amended to remove references to any specific century. Rather than specifying the century in the space where the date is to be inserted, the form language denotes the space to insert the year as follows: "(year) . . .".

Additional technical changes are also made in this bill. In two instances, references to "petitioner [respondent]" are changed to refer only to "respondent". In one instance, a form is changed from saying "twenty" to "thirty". This change makes the form's language match the statutory text. Finally, in two instances, optional answers "Yes . . . . . . . . No . . . . . . . ." have been added to form resolutions.