State Senate helps Washington residents fight back against identity theft

OLYMPIA — A bill which takes the guess work out of where identity theft victims should go to report their case passed the Senate today.

Senate Bill 5878, sponsored by Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, requires law enforcement agencies to create an incident report and provide a victim or suspected victim with a copy of the report. Currently, victims have voiced concerns that some agencies won’t allow them to file reports.

“For people to get themselves out of the problem it’s probably going to take months and it’s probably going to take a lot of time and effort,” Hargrove said. “At least we can make the first step easy by allowing people to go to their local police to file that report instead of having to spend several months trying to figure out who’s going to accept the case so that you can get started on it.”

SB 5878 is also seen as an important step in helping victims recover financially.

“Filing that police report is what let’s you start to clear your credit up. It needs to be filed someplace close to home that will provide you with proof that you filed a report.”

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 46-0. The bill now goes to the House.

Return to Sen. Hargrove's home page