The bill amends RCW 9.94A.650 to make a conviction for hit and run resulting in death (RCW 46.52.020(4)(a)) one of the felony offenses that render an otherwise eligible first-time felony offender ineligible for the first-time offender sentencing waiver. The statute already lists other ineligible felonies including violent offenses and sex offenses under chapter 9.94A, certain controlled-substance offenses (Schedule I or II narcotics and flunitrazepam in Schedule IV), specified methamphetamine manufacture or delivery offenses (RCW 69.50.206(d)(2)), selling for profit of Schedule I controlled or counterfeit substances (RCW 69.50.204) except leaves and flowering tops of cannabis, and felony DUI or felony physical control while under the influence. For those still eligible as first-time felony offenders (defined here as persons with no prior felony conviction in state, federal, or another state and no prior participation in a deferred prosecution program for a felony), the court may waive imposition of a standard-range sentence and instead impose a sentence that can include up to 90 days confinement in a county-operated or county-contracted facility and a requirement to refrain from committing new offenses. The court may impose up to six months of community custody unless treatment is ordered; if treatment is ordered, community custody may cover the treatment period but may not exceed one year. As a condition of community custody the court may require payment of court-ordered legal financial obligations and/or performance of community restitution work, in addition to conditions authorized by RCW 9.94A.703. The bill references the definition of "cannabis" in RCW 69.50.101. The amendment affects courts, county confinement facilities, and community custody and treatment programs, and alters eligibility and sentencing procedures for first-time felony offenders. The extracted text does not include an effective date or applicability date, the full prior RCW 9.94A.650 text for side-by-side comparison, any fiscal notes, or other implementation details.

If enacted, people convicted of a hit-and-run that results in death would no longer qualify for the reduced “first-time offender” sentence option that can limit confinement to about 90 days in a county-run facility and a short period of community custody with conditions like staying out of trouble and paying ordered restitution. That means judges would more often have to impose the full standard-range felony sentence for those crimes, which is likely to lead to longer or more serious custody and supervision than the waived option would have allowed. The change most directly affects defendants convicted of fatal hit-and-runs, and secondarily affects courts, county jails, and community custody/treatment programs because fewer cases would go into the short local confinement-and-supervision track. That shift may change who bears supervision and incarceration responsibilities and could increase longer-term corrections and supervision costs, but the bill text provided does not include an effective date or any fiscal or implementation details, so the timing and size of those impacts are unclear.