CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

SENATE BILL 6493

Chapter 72, Laws of 2020

66TH LEGISLATURE

2020 REGULAR SESSION

COOPER JONES ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION SAFETY COUNCIL

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 11, 2020

SENATE BILL 6493

BySenators Liias, King, Hobbs, Billig, Saldaña, and Wilson, C.

AN ACT Relating to the Cooper Jones active transportation safety council; adding a new section to chapter 43.59 RCW; and repealing RCW 43.59.155.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 43.59 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Within amounts appropriated to the traffic safety commission, the commission must convene the Cooper Jones active transportation safety council comprised of stakeholders who have a unique interest or expertise in the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other nonmotorists.

(2) The purpose of the council is to review and analyze data and programs related to fatalities and serious injuries involving pedestrians, bicyclists, and other nonmotorists to identify points at which the transportation system can be improved including, whenever possible, privately owned areas of the system such as parking lots, and to identify patterns in pedestrian, bicyclist, and other nonmotorist fatalities and serious injuries. The council may also:

(a) Monitor progress on implementation of existing council recommendations; and

(b) Seek opportunities to expand consideration and implementation of the principles of systematic safety, including areas where data collection may need improvement.

(3)(a) The council may include, but is not limited to:

(i) A representative from the commission;

(ii) A coroner from the county in which pedestrian, bicyclist, or nonmotorist deaths have occurred;

(iii) Multiple members of law enforcement who have investigated pedestrian, bicyclist, or nonmotorist fatalities;

(iv) A traffic engineer;

(v) A representative from the department of transportation and a representative from the department of health;

(vi) A representative from the association of Washington cities;

(vii) A representative from the Washington state association of counties;

(viii) A representative from a pedestrian advocacy group; and

(ix) A representative from a bicyclist or other nonmotorist advocacy group.

(b) The commission may invite other representatives of stakeholder groups to participate in the council as deemed appropriate by the commission. Additionally, the commission may invite a victim or family member of a victim to participate in the council.

(4) The council must meet at least quarterly. By December 31st of each year, the council must issue an annual report detailing any findings and recommendations to the governor and the transportation committees of the legislature. The commission must provide the annual report electronically to all municipal governments and state agencies that participated in the council during that calendar year. Additionally, the council must report any budgetary or fiscal recommendations to the office of financial management and the legislature by August 1st on a biennial basis.

(5) As part of the review of pedestrian, bicyclist, or nonmotorist fatalities and serious injuries that occur in Washington, the council may review any available information, including crash information maintained in existing databases; statutes, rules, policies, or ordinances governing pedestrians and traffic related to the incidents; and any other relevant information. The council may make recommendations regarding changes in statutes, ordinances, rules, and policies that could improve pedestrian, bicyclist, or nonmotorist safety. Additionally, the council may make recommendations on how to improve traffic fatality and serious injury data quality, including crashes that occur in privately owned property such as parking lots. The council may consult with local cities and counties, as well as local police departments and other law enforcement agencies and associations representing those jurisdictions on how to improve data quality regarding crashes occurring on private property.

(6)(a) Documents prepared by or for the council are inadmissible and may not be used in a civil or administrative proceeding, except that any document that exists before its use or consideration in a review by the council, or that is created independently of such review, does not become inadmissible merely because it is reviewed or used by the council. For confidential information, such as personally identifiable information and medical records, which are obtained by the council, neither the commission nor the council may publicly disclose such confidential information. No person who was in attendance at a meeting of the council or who participated in the creation, retention, collection, or maintenance of information or documents specifically for the commission or the council shall be permitted to testify in any civil action as to the content of such proceedings or of the documents and information prepared specifically as part of the activities of the council. However, recommendations from the council and the commission generally may be disclosed without personal identifiers.

(b) The council may review, only to the extent otherwise permitted by law or court rule when determined to be relevant and necessary: Any law enforcement incident documentation, such as incident reports, dispatch records, and victim, witness, and suspect statements; any supplemental reports, probable cause statements, and 911 call taker's reports; and any other information determined to be relevant to the review. The commission and the council must maintain the confidentiality of such information to the extent required by any applicable law.

(7) If acting in good faith, without malice, and within the parameters of and protocols established under this chapter, representatives of the commission and the council are immune from civil liability for an activity related to reviews of particular fatalities and serious injuries.

(8) This section must not be construed to provide a private civil cause of action.

(9)(a) The council may receive gifts, grants, or endowments from public or private sources that are made from time to time, in trust or otherwise, for the use and benefit of the purposes of the council and spend the gifts, grants, or endowments from the public or private sources according to their terms, unless the receipt of the gifts, grants, or endowments violates RCW 42.17A.560.

(b) Subject to the appropriation of funds for this specific purpose, the council may provide grants targeted at improving pedestrian, bicyclist, or nonmotorist safety in accordance with recommendations made by the council.

(10) For purposes of this section:

(a) "Bicyclist fatality" means any death of a bicyclist resulting from a collision, whether on a roadway, at an intersection, along an adjacent sidewalk, or on a path that is contiguous with a roadway.

(b) "Council" means the Cooper Jones active transportation safety council.

(c) "Nonmotorist" means anyone using the transportation system who is not in a vehicle.

(d) "Pedestrian fatality" means any death of a pedestrian resulting from a collision, whether on a roadway, at an intersection, along an adjacent sidewalk, or on a path that is contiguous with a roadway.

(e) "Serious injury" means any injury other than a fatal injury that prevents the injured person from walking, driving, or normally continuing the activities the person was capable of performing before the injury occurred.

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