New Washington state laws go into effect in July. Here’s what you should know

By Adel Toay

On June 28, 2023; Updated June 30, 2023

From a change to drug possession laws to an anti-hazing law and the designation of the first state dinosaur, here are some of the notable laws going into effect.

SEATTLE — Several new laws go into effect in Washington state on Saturday and later in the month.

From a change to drug possession laws to an anti-hazing law and the designation of the first state dinosaur, here are some of the notable laws going into effect.

SB 5536: Drug possession

The Washington State Legislature passed a compromise drug possession bill during a special session earlier this year called by Gov. Jay Inslee.

Senate Bill 5536 sets the penalty for possession of controlled substances as a gross misdemeanor with a maximum confinement time of six months for the first two convictions. Any fine for any conviction is capped at a maximum of $1,000. 

The bill creates a system for a pre-trial diversion program to get people into treatment. The bill requires mandatory early conviction vacation if the person in question can complete treatment or has “substantially complied” with a recovery program or similar services for six months. 

The bill criminalizes using drugs in public.

The Washington Supreme Court struck down a state law in 2021 making drug possession a felony. It was unconstitutional, the court said, because it did not require prosecutors to prove that someone knowingly had the drugs. Washington was the only state in the country without that requirement.

The state’s new drug possession law goes into effect July 1.

SB 5033: Kimberly Bender’s Law

Senate Bill 5033, known as Kimberly Bender’s Law, imposes harsher penalties for sexually abusive jail and prison guards. It goes into effect July 23.

The law would raise the status of second-degree custodial sexual misconduct from a gross misdemeanor to a Class C felony. The second-degree charge applies to cases when a corrections officer or member of law enforcement has sexual contact with a person in their custody. 

“Kimberly Bender’s Law” is named after a Quileute woman who died by suicide in her Forks jail cell after reporting her jail guard, John Gray, sexually harassed her.

Gray, the corrections officer at the center of a KING 5 investigation that prompted the legislation, was convicted in 2021 of two felony and two misdemeanor counts of custodial sexual misconduct for sexually assaulting four women who were inmates at the Forks jail in 2019. He served 13 months of his 20-month sentence.

HB 1002: Sam Martinez Stop Hazing Law

The “Sam Martinez Stop Hazing Law,” or House Bill 1002, increases penalties for the most serious types of hazing from a misdemeanor to a felony. It goes into effect July 23.

“This bill recognizes the death of a Washington State University student and reflects the inherent danger of hazing rituals that can pressure students to consume large amounts of alcohol,” Inslee said at the bill signing. 

Sam Martinez of Bellevue died in 2019 after a night of hazing at a fraternity at Washington State University. A total of 15 fraternity members were charged with misdemeanors for supplying alcohol to a minor.

Since then, Martinez’s parents have pushed lawmakers to strengthen hazing laws.

The “Sam Martinez Stop Hazing Law” makes hazing a gross misdemeanor, instead of a lower-level misdemeanor. In incidents where someone is killed or suffers “substantial bodily harm,” hazing could be charged as a felony.

Washington is the 15th state to make hazing a felony under the new law.

This is the second anti-hazing law for which Sam Martinez’s family has advocated. In 2022, lawmakers approved a bill that requires universities to publicly report hazing violations and provide hazing education for students.

HB 1051: Robocall Scam Protection Act

House Bill 1051, known as the Robocall Scam Protection Act, would make it illegal to disguise a caller’s identity by using a fake caller ID and would make it a violation for phone providers to enable illegal robocalls knowingly. It prohibits calls to residents on the federal Do Not Call Registry.

No Washington state law previously explicitly prohibited companies from calling residents on the federal Do Not Call Registry.

According to TruCaller survey data, an estimated 1.1 million Washington state residents lost money to robocall scams in 2022 — an increase of 265,000 from the previous year. Nationally, an estimated $39.5 billion was lost to scam calls in 2022, according to TruCaller.

Inslee signed the bill into law in April, which goes into effect on July 23.

HB 1177: Cold case unit for missing and murdered Indigenous women

House Bill 1177 creates a cold case unit within the state Attorney General’s Office specifically aimed at tackling cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous women and people (MMIWP). The legislation goes into effect on July 23.

The cold case unit will include investigators and case navigators who would serve as family liaisons using culturally appropriate and trauma-informed practices.

The unit was one of 10 recommendations that came out of a series of MMIWP task force meetings beginning in December 2021. The task force issued its first report in August. In addition to the unit, it recommended standardizing the use of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, expanding law enforcement coordination and promoting inclusivity, among other recommendations.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the unit was “the right thing to do” and “long overdue.”

The cold case unit will be the latest in state initiatives to address the number of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Washington. In 2022, Washington became the first state in the U.S. to create a specialized alert system for missing Indigenous people. 

HB 1020: First state dinosaur

Washington officially has its first state dinosaur, the Suciasaurus Rex.

Inslee signed the bill into law in May and goes into effect on July 23.

Following the bill signing, Inslee recognized eighth-grader Athena Tauscher as “Washingtonian of the Day” for her work on the bill. Tauscher repeatedly testified in favor of the bill, which came up as a result of a fourth-grade class project.

The dinosaur represents the first dinosaur fossil ever found in Washington state by paleontologists back in 2012. The fossil belonged to a therapod, a two-legged meat eater like the Velociraptor and the Tyrannosaurus rex, according to the Burke Museum.

Found on the shores of Sucia Island State Park, the fossil was identified as a thigh bone slightly smaller than a T. rex’s. Because the fossil is incomplete, paleontologists were not able to identify the exact family or species the bone belongs to.

The bill to designate the Suciasaurus rex as the official state dino was brought forward by Rep. Melanie Morgan (D-Parkland). 

The class at Elmhurst Elementary in the Franklin Pierce School District researched the dinosaur and how a bill becomes law and brought the idea to Morgan’s office, who made it a priority to get the bill passed ever since.

This piece was republished from KING 5 News.