Panel hears near‑consensus support to reduce penalties and add supervision for failure to register

Committee staff briefed House Bill 2403 and the committee heard public testimony from defense, law‑enforcement, and other stakeholders. The bill would modify requirements for *** offender registration and reduce penalties for failure to register; courts would have authority to impose community custody terms (up to 24 months for certain felony failures to register), the Department of Corrections would be required to provide supervision and supports, and the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs would be asked to review model policies.

Martha Whaling (staff) summarized the bill and Yvonne Walker presented fiscal details: modest one‑time administrative costs for the Administrative Office of the Courts and the association to update policies, and projected DOC savings because the bill reduces the statutory seriousness level for some offenses (resulting in shorter presumptive confinement and reduced supervision caseloads). Committee staff said the fiscal note reflected savings in the DOC in subsequent biennia.

Katie Hurley (King County Department of Public Defense) testified in strong support, characterizing the bill as having rare consensus across the criminal legal system, cost effective (Katie cited about $67,000 in biennium cost per testimony), and noting most failures to register stem from poverty-related barriers; she said courts would retain discretion to impose confinement where necessary but would also address underlying causes.

Committee members asked staff for data on how many people actually fail to register statewide; staff said the department did not include that count in the fiscal note but could provide the information on request. The committee concluded the public hearing on HB 2403 without taking a committee vote at this session.