Z-0435.4
HOUSE BILL 2576
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Davis, Ormsby, Parshley, Leavitt, Reed, Duerr, and Thomas; by request of Secretary of State
Read first time 01/19/26. Referred to Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations.
AN ACT Relating to the address confidentiality program; amending RCW 40.24.010 , 40.24.030 , 40.24.040 , 40.24.050 , 40.24.060 , 40.24.070 , 40.24.080 , and 40.24.100 ; and reenacting and amending RCW 40.24.020 .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 40.24.010 and 2019 c 122 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
The legislature finds that persons attempting to escape from (( actual or threatened )) domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking(( , or stalking )) frequently establish new addresses in order to prevent their assailants (( or probable assailants )) from finding them. This new address, however, is only useful if an assailant does not discover it. The purpose of this chapter is to enable state and local agencies to accept the address designated by the secretary of state as the participant's actual address, to respond to requests for public records without disclosing the location of a victim (( of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, or stalking )), and to enable interagency cooperation with the secretary of state in providing address confidentiality for victims (( of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, or stalking, and to enable state and local agencies to accept a program participant's use of an address designated by the secretary of state as a substitute mailing address )). The legislature further intends to provide assistance to program participants who own or desire to own property in the state to protect such ownership from public disclosure.