Do you have a complaint or comment about any marriage agency, tour company, or individual advertising on the internet?
Contact Us
ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6412
Chapter 115, Laws of 2002
57th Legislature
2002 Regular Session
EFFECTIVE DATE: 9/1/02
Passed by the Senate March 11, 2002
YEAS 43 NAYS 2
BRAD OWEN
President of the Senate
Passed by the House March 6, 2002
YEAS 93 NAYS 0
CERTIFICATE
I, Tony M. Cook, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6412 as passed by
the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.
FRANK CHOPP
Speaker of the House of Representatives
TONY M. COOK
Secretary
Approved March 26, 2002
FILED
March 26, 2002 - 8:49 a.m.
GARY LOCKE
Governor of the State of Washington
Secretary of State of Washington
AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
Passed Legislature - 2002 Regular Session
State of Washington
57th Legislature
2002 Regular Session
By Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce & Financial Institutions (originally sponsored by Senators Kohl-Welles, Costa, Prentice, Winsley, Long, Keiser and Benton)
READ FIRST TIME 02/06/2002.
AN ACT Relating to international matchmaking organizations; amending RCW 43.43.760; adding a new chapter to Title 19 RCW; and providing an effective date.
Sec. 1. The legislature intends to provide increased consumer awareness on the part of persons living abroad regarding Washington residents
who utilize international matchmaking services for purposes of establishing relationships with those living abroad.
The legislature recognizes that persons living abroad are already required to provide background information to the federal government during visa applications,
but, unlike residents of the United States, are unlikely to have the means to access and fully verify personal history information about prospective spouses
residing in the United States. The legislature does not intend to impede the ability of any person to establish a marital or romantic relationship, but rather
to increase the ability of persons living abroad to make informed decisions about Washington residents.
The legislature does not intend to adversely impact in any way those businesses who offer international matchmaking services on a not for fee basis.
Sec. 2. (1) Each international matchmaking organization doing business in Washington state shall disseminate to a recruit, upon request,
state background check information and marital history information relating to any Washington state resident about whom any information is provided to the recruit,
in the recruit's native language. The organization shall notify all recruits that background check and marital history information is available upon request.
The notice that background check and marital history information is available upon request shall be in the recruit's native language and shall be displayed in a
manner that separates it from other information, is highly noticeable, and in lettering not less than one-quarter of an inch high.
(2) If an international matchmaking organization receives a request for information from a recruit pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the organization
shall notify the Washington state resident of the request. Upon receiving notification, the Washington state resident shall obtain from the state patrol and
provide to the organization the complete transcript of any background check information provided pursuant to RCW 43.43.760 based on a submission of fingerprint
impressions and provided pursuant to RCW 43.43.838 and shall provide to the organization his or her marital history information.
The organization shall require the resident to affirm that marital history information is complete and accurate, and includes any information regarding marriages,
annulments, and dissolutions which occurred in other states or countries. The organization shall refrain from knowingly providing any further services to the
recruit or the Washington state resident in regards to facilitating future interaction between the recruit and the Washington state resident until the organization
has obtained the requested information and provided it to the recruit.
(3) This section does not apply to a traditional matchmaking organization of a religious nature that otherwise operates in compliance with the laws of the
countries of the recruits of such organization and the laws of the United States nor to any organization that does not charge a fee to any party for the service provided.
(4) As used in this section:
(a) "International matchmaking organization" means a corporation, partnership, business, or other legal entity, whether or not organized under the laws of the
United States or any state, that does business in the United States and for profit offers to Washington state residents, including aliens lawfully admitted for
permanent residence and residing in Washington state, dating, matrimonial, or social referral services involving citizens of a foreign country or countries who
are not residing in the United States, by:
(I) An exchange of names, telephone numbers, addresses, or statistics;
(II) selection of photographs; or
(III) a social environment provided by the organization in a country other than the United States.
(b) "Marital history information" means a declaration of the person's current marital status, the number of times the person has previously been married, and
whether any previous marriages occurred as a result of receiving services from an international matchmaking organization.
(c) "Recruit" means a noncitizen, nonresident person, recruited by an international matchmaking organization for the purpose of providing dating, matrimonial, or
social referral services.
Sec. 3. For purposes of establishing personal jurisdiction under this act, an international matchmaking organization is deemed to be doing business in Washington and therefore subject to specific jurisdiction if it contracts for matchmaking services with a Washington resident or if it is considered to be doing business under any other provision or rule of law.
Sec. 4. The legislature finds that the practices covered by this chapter are matters vitally affecting the public interest for the purpose of applying the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW. A violation of this chapter is not reasonable in relation to the development and preservation of business and is an unfair or deceptive act in trade or commerce and an unfair method of competition for the purpose of applying the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW.
Sec. 5. RCW 43.43.760 and 2001 c 217 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Whenever a resident of this state appears before any law enforcement agency and requests an impression of his or her fingerprints to be made, such agency may
comply with his or her request and make the required copies of the impressions on forms marked "Personal Identification".
The required copies shall be forwarded to the section and marked "for personal identification only".
The section shall accept and file such fingerprints submitted voluntarily by such resident, for the purpose of securing a more certain and easy identification in
case of death, injury, loss of memory, or other similar circumstances. Upon the request of such person, the section shall return his or her identification data.
(2) Whenever a person claiming to be a victim of identity theft appears before any law enforcement agency and requests an impression of his or her fingerprints
to be made, such agency may comply with this request and make the required copies of the impressions on forms marked "Personal Identification".
The required copies shall be forwarded to the section and marked "for personal identification only."
The section shall accept and file such fingerprints submitted by such resident, for the purpose of securing a more certain and easy identification in cases of
identity theft. The section shall provide a statement showing that the victim's impression of fingerprints has been accepted and filed with the section.
The statement provided to the victim shall state clearly in twelve-point print:
"The person holding this statement has claimed to be a victim of identity theft. Pursuant to chapter 9.35 RCW, a business is required by law to provide this
victim with copies of all relevant application and transaction information related to the transaction being alleged as a potential or actual identity theft.
A business must provide this information once the victim makes a request in writing, shows this statement, any government issued photo identification card,
and a copy of a police report".
Upon the request of such person, the section shall return his or her identification data.
(3) Whenever any person is an applicant for appointment to any position or is an applicant for employment or is an applicant for a license to be issued by any
governmental agency, and the law or a regulation of such governmental agency requires that the applicant be of good moral character or not have been convicted of
a crime, or is an applicant for appointment to or employment with a criminal justice agency, or the department, {+ or is an applicant for the services of an
international matchmaking organization, +} the applicant may request any law enforcement agency to make an impression of his or her fingerprints to be submitted
to the section. The law enforcement agency may comply with such request and make copies of the impressions on forms marked "applicant", and submit such copies
to the section. The section shall accept such fingerprints and shall cause its files to be examined and shall promptly send to the appointing authority, employer,
or licensing authority, or international matchmaking organization indicated on the form of application, a transcript of the record of previous crimes committed
by the person described on the data submitted, or a transcript of the dependency record information regarding the person described on the data submitted, or if
there is no record of his or her commission of any crimes, or if there is no dependency record information, a statement to that effect.
(4) The Washington state patrol shall charge fees for processing of noncriminal justice system requests for criminal history record information pursuant to this
section which will cover, as nearly as practicable, the direct and indirect costs to the patrol of processing such requests.
Any law enforcement agency may charge a fee not to exceed five dollars for the purpose of taking fingerprint impressions or searching its files of identification for noncriminal purposes.
Sec. 6. Sections 1 through 4 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 19 RCW.
Sec. 7. This act takes effect September 1, 2002.
Passed the Senate March 11, 2002.
Passed the House March 6, 2002.
Approved by the Governor March 26, 2002.
Filed in Office of Secretary of State March 26, 2002.
"Marriageservices.org is not responsible for the validity of the information contained on this page. This posting is in no way providing legal advice or
counseling. If you feel this information pertains to you and may affect you or our business we suggest you consult an attorney for professional advice."
Once you have that done please send the links to Ken, he needs to include them in a letter he is sending out. I need this letter out by Monday his time, so please hurry.
| MARRIAGESERVICES.ORG © 2002-2007 |