One-Party Consent
Sponsor: Rep. Dickerson
We succeeded in limiting damage to our state’s rule on two-party consent, which requires both parties to consent to audio recordings. Washington is one of the few states which retains this important protection. A well-intentioned but problematic bill allows one-party consent for recordings made in connection with the human trafficking of minors; that exception to Washington’s two-party consent statute currently only exists for drug trafficking investigations. Although the bill passed despite our opposition, we successfully fought for language that allows for meaningful judicial review and the destruction of illegally made recordings – a protection that will apply to drug trafficking as well as human trafficking cases.
