Washington Legislators Address Identity Theft

Washington’s Legislature ended its regular session last week, passing, among others, bills that affect identity theft.

SB 5878 Assisting ID theft victims requires police to file police reports for victims of identity theft to help them clear their names and also allows prosecutors to bring separate charges against an accused identity thief for each use of an individual’s information. This bill reverses policy set in State v. Leyda (2006) where the Supreme Court held that a defendant can only be charged once—even when the ID is used multiple times.

HB 2637 Promoting ID theft prosecutions allows records provided by out-of-state businesses to be authenticated by affidavit, rather than in person, in criminal cases to reduce time and expense in bringing ID theft prosecutions.

Both measures were supported by the attorney general. For more information, visit www.atg.wa.gov.

Source: Washington Legislature, Attorney General’s Office