(1) For the purposes of this section, "informant" means any person who: (a) Was previously unconnected with the criminal case as either a witness or a codefendant; (b) claims to have relevant information about the crime; (c) is currently charged with a crime or is facing potential criminal charges or is in custody; and (d) at any time receives consideration in exchange for providing the information or testimony.
(2) The University of Washington school of law, in consultation with the Washington association of prosecuting attorneys and Washington innocence project, shall administer a work group on the reliability of informant testimony. The primary purposes of the work group are to adopt model guidelines and develop a training curriculum based on those guidelines to assist prosecuting attorneys in evaluating the reliability of information or testimony offered by an informant before it is used in connection with any criminal proceeding and in determining adequate preliminary disclosures to the defense.
(3) The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall jointly appoint the members of the work group to include the following:
(a) One member representing the senate;
(b) One member representing the house of representatives;
(c) The executive director of the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs or the executive director's designee;
(d) Two members representing the Washington association of prosecuting attorneys, each from a diverse geographical location;
(e) One member representing the Washington defender association;
(f) One member representing the Washington association of criminal defense lawyers;
(g) One member representing the Washington innocence project; and
(h) One member of the board of the western states information network.
(4) The duties of the work group include, but are not limited to:
(a) Developing model guidelines for prosecutors to determine whether to use an informant in a criminal proceeding;
(b) Designing and implementing statewide training for prosecutors and defense counsel based on the model guidelines; and
(c) Collecting local protocols required under RCW 10.56.040.
(5) The work group shall hold its initial meeting no later than July 31, 2019, and complete the model guidelines and training curriculum no later than November 30, 2019.
(6) The work group shall coordinate with the Washington association of prosecuting attorneys, Washington defender association, and Washington association of criminal defense lawyers to make specialized training based on the training curriculum developed pursuant to subsection (4) of this section available to prosecuting attorneys and criminal defense attorneys.
(7) The work group shall prepare and submit to the appropriate committees of the legislature a report including the model guidelines, the training curriculum, and a summary of its work by November 30, 2019.
(8) The work group shall function within existing resources.
(9) This section expires December 31, 2022.
[ 2019 c 359 § 3.]