H-1691              _______________________________________________

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 931

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Representatives Locke, Niemi, Belcher, Dellwo, Crane and Tanner

Read first time 2/8/85 and referred to Committee on Judiciary.

AN ACT Relating to victims of sexual assault; and amending RCW 70.125.065.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 9, chapter 145, Laws of 1981 and RCW 70.125.065 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Records maintained by rape crisis centers shall not be made available to any defense attorney as part of discovery in a sexual assault case unless:

          (((1))) (a) A written pretrial motion is made by the defendant to the court stating that the defendant is requesting discovery of the rape crisis center's records;

          (((2))) (b) The written motion is accompanied by an affidavit or affidavits setting forth specifically the reasons why the defendant is requesting discovery of the rape crisis center's records;

          (((3))) (c) The court reviews the rape crisis center's records in camera to determine whether the rape crisis center's records are relevant and whether the probative value of the records is outweighed by the victim's privacy interest in the confidentiality of such records taking into account the further trauma that may be inflicted upon the victim by the disclosure of the records to the defendant; and

          (((4))) (d) The court enters an order stating whether the records or any part of the records are discoverable and setting forth the basis for the court's findings.

(2) An employee or volunteer from a rape crisis center who has personal knowledge of events described in records maintained by the rape crisis center shall be privileged against compulsory disclosure of such knowledge to the same extent that the records are unavailable to a defense attorney as part of discovery in a sexual assault case under subsection (1) of this section.