_______________________________________________

                                  ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 932

                        _______________________________________________

                                                                            C 259 L 85

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By House Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Representatives K. Wilson, Allen, P. King, Armstrong, Miller, Leonard, Lewis, G. Nelson, Tanner, Patrick, Brough, May, Winsley and Todd)

Read first time 3/8/85 and passed to Committee on Rules.

AN ACT Relating to child abuse; amending RCW 26.44.030; adding new sections to chapter 26.44 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The Washington state legislature finds and declares:

          The children of the state of Washington are the state's greatest resource and the greatest source of wealth to the state of Washington.  Children of all ages must be protected from child abuse.  Governmental authorities must give the prevention, treatment, and punishment of child abuse the highest priority, and all instances of child abuse must be reported to the proper authorities who should diligently and expeditiously take appropriate action, and child abusers must be held accountable to the people of the state for their actions.

          The legislature recognizes the current heavy caseload of governmental authorities responsible for the prevention, treatment, and punishment of child abuse.  The information obtained by child abuse reporting requirements, in addition to its use as a law enforcement tool, will be used to determine the need for additional funding to ensure that resources for appropriate governmental response to child abuse are available.

        Sec. 2.  Section 3, chapter 13, Laws of 1965 as last amended by section 3, chapter 97, Laws of 1984 and RCW 26.44.030 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) When any practitioner, professional school personnel, registered or licensed nurse, social worker, psychologist, pharmacist, or employee of the department has reasonable cause to believe that a child or adult dependent person has suffered abuse or neglect, he shall report such incident, or cause a report to be made, to the proper law enforcement agency or to the department as provided in RCW 26.44.040.  The report shall be made at the first opportunity, but in no case longer than ((seven days)) forty-eight hours after there is reasonable cause to believe that the child or adult has suffered abuse or neglect.

          (2) Any other person who has reasonable cause to believe that a child or adult dependent person has suffered abuse or neglect may report such incident to the proper law enforcement agency or to the department of social and health services as provided in RCW 26.44.040 ((as now or hereafter amended)).

          (3) The department, upon receiving a report of an incident of abuse or neglect pursuant to this chapter, involving a child or adult dependent person who has died or has had physical injury or injuries inflicted upon him other than by accidental means or who has been subjected to sexual abuse, shall report such incident in writing to the proper law enforcement agency.

          (4) Any law enforcement agency receiving a report of an incident of abuse or neglect pursuant to this chapter, involving a child or adult dependent person who has died or has had physical injury or injuries inflicted upon him other than by accidental means, or who has been subjected to sexual abuse, shall report such incident in writing as provided in RCW 26.44.040 to the  proper county prosecutor or city attorney for appropriate action whenever the law enforcement agency's investigation reveals that a crime ((has)) may have been committed.  The law enforcement agency shall also notify the department of all reports received and the law enforcement agency's disposition of them.

(5) Any county prosecutor or city attorney receiving a report under subsection (4) of this section shall notify the victim, any persons the victim requests, and the local office of the department, of the decision to charge or decline to charge a crime, within five days of making the decision.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  A new section is added to chapter 26.44 RCW to read as follows:

          If the department or a law enforcement agency responds to a complaint of child abuse or neglect and discovers that another agency has also responded to the complaint, the agency shall notify the other agency of their presence, and the agencies shall coordinate the investigation and keep each other apprised of progress.

          The department, each law enforcement agency, each county prosecuting attorney, each city attorney, and each court shall make as soon as practicable a written record and shall maintain records of all incidents of suspected child abuse reported to that person or agency.  Records kept under this section shall be identifiable by means of an agency code for child abuse.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.  A new section is added to chapter 26.44 RCW to read as follows:

          Commencing in 1986, the prosecuting attorney shall include in the annual report a section stating the number of child abuse reports received by the office under this chapter and the number of cases where charges were filed.

                                                                                                                           Passed the House April 22, 1985.

                                                                                                                                         Speaker of the House.

                                                                                                                           Passed the Senate April 15, 1985.

                                                                                                                                       President of the Senate.