CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

SENATE BILL 5649

Chapter 87, Laws of 2019

66TH LEGISLATURE

2019 REGULAR SESSION

SEXUAL ASSAULT--STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 28, 2019

SENATE BILL 5649

BySenators Dhingra, Pedersen, Palumbo, Saldaña, Das, Wilson, C., Frockt, Keiser, and Kuderer

AN ACT Relating to crimes of sexual assault; amending RCW 9A.44.060; reenacting and amending RCW 9A.04.080; and creating a new section.

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

The statute of limitations restricts a prosecutor's ability to hold perpetrators accountable when reports of crime are delayed. There are many different reasons why victims of sexual assault delay or even choose to never report the crime that has been committed against them. Advances in the field of neurobiology have demonstrated how sexual assault trauma and trauma responses may contribute to delayed victim reporting. Sometimes the victim is in a relationship with the perpetrator - an employer, parent, teacher, or some other person with supervisory power over the victim – causing the victim to believe that further harm will come to them if they report the crime. Further, technological and scientific advances in investigation, collection, documentation, and preservation of evidence have advanced law enforcement and prosecutorial abilities to investigate and prosecute these older cases. Realizing this, policymakers across the country have reevaluated and amended statutes of limitation to extend the allowable time to prosecute sexual assault crimes.

It is generally true that the longer a victim waits to report a crime, the more difficult it will be for the case to be successfully prosecuted. However, the statute of limitations should not prohibit prosecution for these heinous offenses when there is adequate evidence. Extending or eliminating the statute of limitations in these cases is imperative to provide access to justice for victims, hold perpetrators accountable, and enhance community protection.

Sec. 2. RCW 9A.04.080 and 2017 c 266 s 9, 2017 c 231 s 2, and 2017 c 125 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

(1) Prosecutions for criminal offenses shall not be commenced after the periods prescribed in this section.

(a) The following offenses may be prosecuted at any time after their commission:

(i) Murder;

(ii) Homicide by abuse;

(iii) Arson if a death results;

(iv) Vehicular homicide;

(v) Vehicular assault if a death results;

(vi) Hit-and-run injury-accident if a death results (RCW 46.52.020(4));

(xvii) Sexual exploitation of a minor (RCW 9.68A.040).

(b) Except as provided in (((c)))(a) of this subsection, the following offenses may not be prosecuted more than twenty years after its commission:

(c) The following offenses ((shall))may not be prosecuted more than ten years after ((their))its commission:

(i) Any felony committed by a public officer if the commission is in connection with the duties of his or her office or constitutes a breach of his or her public duty or a violation of the oath of office;

(ii) Arson if no death results;

(iii)(((A) Violations of RCW 9A.44.040 or 9A.44.050 if the rape is reported to a law enforcement agency within one year of its commission.

(v)))Rape in the third degree (RCW 9A.44.060);

(iv) Attempted murder; or

(((vi)))(v) Trafficking under RCW 9A.40.100.

(((c) Violations of the following statutes, when committed against a victim under the age of eighteen, may be prosecuted up to the victim's thirtieth birthday: RCW 9A.44.040 (rape in the first degree), 9A.44.050 (rape in the second degree), 9A.44.073 (rape of a child in the first degree), 9A.44.076 (rape of a child in the second degree), 9A.44.079 (rape of a child in the third degree), 9A.44.083 (child molestation in the first degree), 9A.44.086 (child molestation in the second degree), 9A.44.089 (child molestation in the third degree), 9A.44.100(1)(b) (indecent liberties), 9A.64.020 (incest), or 9.68A.040 (sexual exploitation of a minor).))

(d) A violation of any offense listed in this subsection (1)(d) may be prosecuted up to ten years after its commission or, if committed against a victim under the age of eighteen, up to the victim's thirtieth birthday, whichever is later:

(i) RCW 9.68A.100 (commercial sexual abuse of a minor);

(ii) RCW 9.68A.101 (promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor); ((or))

(iii) RCW 9.68A.102 (promoting travel for commercial sexual abuse of a minor); or

(iv) RCW 9A.64.020 (incest).

(e) The following offenses ((shall))may not be prosecuted more than six years after ((their))its commission or ((their)) discovery, whichever occurs later:

(i) Violations of RCW 9A.82.060 or 9A.82.080;

(ii) Any felony violation of chapter 9A.83 RCW;

(iii) Any felony violation of chapter 9.35 RCW;

(iv) Theft in the first or second degree under chapter 9A.56 RCW when accomplished by color or aid of deception;

(v) Theft from a vulnerable adult under RCW 9A.56.400; or

(vi) Trafficking in stolen property in the first or second degree under chapter 9A.82 RCW in which the stolen property is a motor vehicle or major component part of a motor vehicle as defined in RCW 46.80.010.

(f) The following offenses ((shall))may not be prosecuted more than five years after ((their))its commission: Any class C felony under chapter 74.09, 82.36, or 82.38 RCW.

(g) Bigamy ((shall))may not be prosecuted more than three years after the time specified in RCW 9A.64.010.

(h) A violation of RCW 9A.56.030 ((must))may not be prosecuted more than three years after the discovery of the offense when the victim is a tax exempt corporation under 26 U.S.C. Sec. 501(c)(3).

(i) No other felony may be prosecuted more than three years after its commission; except that in a prosecution under RCW 9A.44.115, if the person who was viewed, photographed, or filmed did not realize at the time that he or she was being viewed, photographed, or filmed, the prosecution must be commenced within two years of the time the person who was viewed or in the photograph or film first learns that he or she was viewed, photographed, or filmed.

(j) No gross misdemeanor may be prosecuted more than two years after its commission.

(k) No misdemeanor may be prosecuted more than one year after its commission.

(2) The periods of limitation prescribed in subsection (1) of this section do not run during any time when the person charged is not usually and publicly resident within this state.

(3) In any prosecution for a sex offense as defined in RCW 9.94A.030, the periods of limitation prescribed in subsection (1) of this section run from the date of commission or one year from the date on which the identity of the suspect is conclusively established by deoxyribonucleic acid testing or by photograph as defined in RCW 9.68A.011, whichever is later.

(4) If, before the end of a period of limitation prescribed in subsection (1) of this section, an indictment has been found or a complaint or an information has been filed, and the indictment, complaint, or information is set aside, then the period of limitation is extended by a period equal to the length of time from the finding or filing to the setting aside.

Sec. 3. RCW 9A.44.060 and 2013 c 94 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) A person is guilty of rape in the third degree when, under circumstances not constituting rape in the first or second degrees, such person engages in sexual intercourse with another person:

(a) Where the victim did not consent as defined in RCW 9A.44.010(7), to sexual intercourse with the perpetrator ((and such lack of consent was clearly expressed by the victim's words or conduct,)); or

(b) Where there is threat of substantial unlawful harm to property rights of the victim.

(2) Rape in the third degree is a class C felony.

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