H-1745.1
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1759
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State of Washington | 65th Legislature | 2017 Regular Session |
By House Public Safety (originally sponsored by Representatives Ortiz-Self, Orwall, Gregerson, and Jinkins)
READ FIRST TIME 02/13/17.
AN ACT Relating to procedures for communicating with crime victims and survivors of crime victims; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The department of commerce, through the office of crime victims advocacy, must convene and coordinate a work group to examine the practices around the state regarding notification of family members when a person has died from a suspected homicide or other criminal means, and to develop recommendations for providing crime victims and survivors of homicide victims with information about crime victim services.
(2) Membership of the work group must include representatives of the following:
(a) The office of crime victims advocacy;
(b) Law enforcement;
(c) Coroners and medical examiners;
(d) Prosecutors;
(e) Chaplain services;
(f) Victim support services;
(g) A private citizen who has been directly impacted by the homicide of a family member; and
(h) Either through the membership in (a) through (g) of this subsection, or by additional membership, representatives that work directly with local victim notification processes in Whatcom county, Snohomish county, King county, Franklin county, Yakima county, and Grant county.
(3) The work group must meet at least twice, in person, for a minimum of eight hours total.
(4) The work group must:
(a) Gather information regarding the various current processes around the state for family notification of a homicide or death by other criminal means;
(b) Identify gaps, if any, in current local processes for family notification; and
(c) Generate best practices for family notification including, but not limited to:
(i) Identifying who is responsible in a local jurisdiction for providing notification;
(ii) Appropriate timelines for notification;
(iii) Alternative processes when a family member is suspected of causing the death;
(iv) Overcoming language barriers in the notification process;
(v) Collaboration between law enforcement and victim services organizations; and
(vi) Other best practices recommended by the work group.
(5) The work group must additionally develop recommendations for ways in which law enforcement officers responding to the scene of a crime may provide crime victims and survivors of homicide victims with information about crime victim services.
(6) The work group must compile a report summarizing the information collected by the work group and its recommendations. The report must be submitted to the governor and the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2017.
(7) This section expires December 1, 2018.
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