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Washington launches HopeCard to make protection orders easier to carry and verify
Summary
Washington’s Administrative Office of the Courts launched a free, wallet-sized HopeCard that summarizes full protection orders for survivors; officials said the card will help law enforcement verify orders faster and improve survivor safety, and the AOC provided a website and request process.
Washington officials onstage at a ribbon-cutting press conference unveiled the state’s new HopeCard program, a free, wallet-sized card that summarizes the key terms of a full civil protection order to make it easier for survivors to carry and for law enforcement and institutions to verify.
"Hope cards are free, optional, and valid until the protection order expires, is dismissed, or materially modified," said Lauren Pilnick, the AOC’s HopeCard program coordinator, who opened the event and credited legislative sponsors and a broad cross section of court and victim-advocacy partners for the launch. Pilnick said the program was created by ESHB 1766 and that the AOC launched the program as required on 01/01/2025.
Dawn Marie Rubio, the State Court Administrator and director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, said the agency centralized implementation to promote timeliness, equity and consistent statewide service delivery. "We firmly believe the centralized approach enhances the service delivery to both the courts and to the people of Washington," Rubio said.
Survivor leader Jamie Sullivan, who received the inaugural HopeCard, described why the tool matters. Sullivan recounted long-term stalking and said the multi-page paper protection orders she carried made it difficult to keep protections with her. "This card represents the day that I was believed," Sullivan said.
Representative Lauren Davis, a sponsor of the related legislation, described access gaps in protection-order proceedings and cited a King County audit she said showed about one-third of petitioners were granted full orders; she also said just 9% of petitioners there had attorneys and that petitioners with counsel were 60% more likely to obtain full orders. Davis emphasized that HopeCards are issued only to people who have been granted a full protection order. "Obtaining a full protection order is incredibly arduous," Davis said.
Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders and other law-enforcement officials said the card should provide quicker, verifiable context at the scene. Sanders said the HopeCard offers what he called "rock-solid reasonable suspicion" that an officer can rely on immediately while noting that officers still prefer to reach probable cause when possible. Sanders recounted a prior response in which delays to confirm an order complicated on-scene action.
Pilnick also gave early usage figures: she said the program website had more than 1,800 visits in the two weeks since launch and the AOC had received more than 60 HopeCard requests, including mailed requests. Printed program materials and an online request form will be available in every Washington court; Pilnick directed people to courts.wa.gov/hopecard and hopecard@courts.wa.gov for more information.
Organizers described HopeCards as optional, free and designed to work with existing verification mechanisms so law enforcement and institutions such as schools and employers can quickly confirm a card and access the underlying order details. The AOC’s online request form asks for a survivor’s case number and issuing court and allows survivors to designate a mailing address for the physical card.
The ceremonial launch concluded with a ribbon cutting and a media question-and-answer session in which Sullivan confirmed that minor children covered by a parent’s protection order are included under that order, making a wallet-sized card easier for schools and SROs to use than multi‑page paperwork.
