Committee reviews bill to reclassify failure-to-register as unranked felony and encourage diversion

The Community Safety, Justice & Reentry Committee heard House Bill 1180 on Feb. 3, a bill sponsored by Representative Daria Farovar that implements unanimous recommendations from the state's *** Offender Policy Board regarding the criminal offense of failure to register.

The staff report summarized current law: adults convicted of certain listed offenses must register with the county sheriff where they live, and failure to register is currently charged at different felony rankings depending on prior convictions. The bill would make each instance of felony failure to register an unranked class C felony, remove the class B upgrade for repeat failures, and encourage prosecutors to use diversionary approaches for first referrals. The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs would be directed to update model registration policies and report to the Legislature.

Farovar told the committee the bill compiles five unanimous recommendations of the policy board and that the board included prosecutors, defenders, sheriff representatives and victim advocates. "They were well rounded," she said. The sponsor acknowledged some cleanup would be needed around statutory language to reflect the subcommittee's recommendations.

Witnesses presented differing operational and public-safety perspectives. Brad Maryhugh, chair of the *** Offender Policy Board, described the research basis for reform, arguing registration and felony penalties have not demonstrably reduced reoffending and that shifting resources to compliance measures could improve outcomes. "Incarcerating people for a failure to register offense has not been shown to improve public safety," Maryhugh said.

Opposition and concerns centered on specific provisions and implementation. James McMahon of the Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs said several items in the bill diverged from the policy-board package; he asked that certain sections be removed and that two board recommendations be included. Detective Ian McCulloch of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office told the committee that the existence of a higher penalty (class B for repeat failures) motivates compliance and asked the committee to preserve escalation for repeat offenses. Russell Brown of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys said prosecutors were comfortable with making a failure-to-register offense non-*** but cautioned against mandating diversion and making certain changes retroactive to pending cases.

Representatives of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission and defense counsel supported the bill. Carrie Anne Yetzer, representing the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, said the commission had recommended moving subsequent failure-to-register offenses to non-*** status in previous reports and supported the policy board's recommendations. Kate Benward of the King County Department of Public Defense and other defense representatives argued the offense is often driven by poverty, housing instability and confusion about complex registration requirements.

Committee members asked participants to continue negotiations to resolve drafting and implementation questions. No formal action was taken at the hearing; sponsors and stakeholders agreed to further discussions to reconcile policy-board language and local enforcement concerns.

Ending: The committee paused deliberations pending follow-up with the *** Offender Policy Board, prosecutors, sheriffs, defense representatives and staff to refine statutory language and operational plans.