Z-0194.1

SENATE BILL 5098

State of Washington
67th Legislature
2021 Regular Session
BySenator Hunt; by request of Public Records Exemptions Accountability Committee
Prefiled 01/06/21.Read first time 01/11/21.Referred to Committee on State Government & Elections.
AN ACT Relating to certain reports; amending RCW 10.27.090 and 43.22.290; reenacting and amending RCW 4.24.250; and repealing RCW 18.32.040.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 4.24.250 and 2005 c 291 s 1 and 2005 c 33 s 5 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) Any health care provider as defined in RCW 7.70.020 (1) and (2) who, in good faith, files charges or presents evidence against another member of their profession based on the claimed incompetency or gross misconduct of such person before a regularly constituted review committee or board of a professional society or hospital whose duty it is to evaluate the competency and qualifications of members of the profession, including limiting the extent of practice of such person in a hospital or similar institution, or before a regularly constituted committee or board of a hospital whose duty it is to review and evaluate the quality of patient care and any person or entity who, in good faith, shares any information or documents with one or more other committees, boards, or programs under subsection (2) of this section, shall be immune from civil action for damages arising out of such activities. For the purposes of this section, sharing information is presumed to be in good faith. However, the presumption may be rebutted upon a showing of clear, cogent, and convincing evidence that the information shared was knowingly false or deliberately misleading. ((The proceedings, reports, and written records of such committees or boards, or of a member, employee, staff person, or investigator of such a committee or board,))Records created by or specifically for and maintained by such committees or boards are not subject to review or disclosure, or subpoena or discovery proceedings in any civil action, except actions arising out of the recommendations of such committees or boards involving the restriction or revocation of the clinical or staff privileges of a health care provider as defined in RCW 7.70.020 (1) and (2).
(2) A coordinated quality improvement program maintained in accordance with RCW 43.70.510 or 70.41.200, a quality assurance committee maintained in accordance with RCW 18.20.390 or 74.42.640, or any committee or board under subsection (1) of this section may share information and documents, including complaints and incident reports, created specifically for, and collected and maintained by, a coordinated quality improvement committee or committees or boards under subsection (1) of this section, with one or more other coordinated quality improvement programs or committees or boards under subsection (1) of this section for the improvement of the quality of health care services rendered to patients and the identification and prevention of medical malpractice. The privacy protections of chapter 70.02 RCW and the federal health insurance portability and accountability act of 1996 and its implementing regulations apply to the sharing of individually identifiable patient information held by a coordinated quality improvement program. Any rules necessary to implement this section shall meet the requirements of applicable federal and state privacy laws. Information and documents disclosed by one coordinated quality improvement program or committee or board under subsection (1) of this section to another coordinated quality improvement program or committee or board under subsection (1) of this section and any information and documents created or maintained as a result of the sharing of information and documents shall not be subject to the discovery process and confidentiality shall be respected as required by subsection (1) of this section and by RCW 43.70.510(4), 70.41.200(3), 18.20.390 (6) and (8), and 74.42.640 (7) and (9).
Sec. 2. RCW 10.27.090 and 2010 c 8 s 1021 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Every member of the grand jury shall keep secret whatever he, she, or any other grand juror has said, and how he, she, or any other grand juror has voted, except for disclosure of indictments, if any, as provided in RCW 10.27.150.
(2) No grand juror shall be permitted to state or testify in any court how he, she, or any other grand juror voted on any question before them or what opinion was expressed by himself, herself, or any other grand juror regarding such question.
(3) No grand juror, public or private attorney, city attorney or corporation counsel, reporter, interpreter or public servant who held a witness in custody before a grand jury or special inquiry judge, or witness, principal or other person shall disclose the testimony of a witness examined before the grand jury or special inquiry judge or other evidence received by it, ((except when required by the court to disclose the testimony of the witness examined before the grand jury or special inquiry judge for the purpose of ascertaining whether it is consistent with that of the witness given before the court, or to disclose his or her testimony given before the grand jury or special inquiry judge by any person upon a charge against such person for perjury in giving his or her testimony or upon trial therefor, or when permitted by the court in furtherance of justice))when such disclosure is prohibited by the court.
(4) The public attorney shall have access to all grand jury and special inquiry judge evidence and may introduce such evidence before any other grand jury or any trial in which the same may be relevant.
(5) The court upon a showing of good cause may make any or all grand jury or special inquiry judge evidence available to any other public attorney, prosecuting attorney, city attorney or corporation counsel upon proper application and with the concurrence of the public attorney attending such grand jury. Any witness' testimony, given before a grand jury or a special inquiry judge and relevant to any subsequent proceeding against the witness, shall be made available to the witness upon proper application to the court. The court may also, upon proper application and upon a showing of good cause, make available to a defendant in a subsequent criminal proceeding other testimony or evidence:
(a) When given or presented before a special inquiry judge, if doing so is in the furtherance of justice; or
(b) When given or presented before a grand jury, if the court finds that doing so is necessary to prevent an injustice and that there is no reason to believe that doing so would endanger the life or safety of any witness or his or her family. The cost of any such transcript made available shall be borne by the applicant.
Sec. 3. RCW 43.22.290 and 2011 c 96 s 28 are each amended to read as follows:
Every owner, operator, or manager of a factory, workshop, mill, mine, or other establishment where labor is employed, shall make to the department, upon blanks furnished by it, such reports and returns as the department may require, for the purpose of compiling such labor statistics as are authorized by this chapter, and the owner or business manager shall make such reports and returns within the time prescribed therefor by the director, and shall certify to the correctness thereof.
In the reports of the department no use shall be made of the names of individuals, firms, or corporations supplying the information called for by this section, such information being deemed confidential((, and not for the purpose of disclosing personal affairs, and any officer, agent, or employee of the department violating this provision shall be fined a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned for up to three hundred sixty-four days)).
NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4. RCW 18.32.040 (Requirements for licensure) and 2017 c 100 s 1 are each repealed.
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