House Bill 1591 (2nd Substitute H-3515.1), read 02/09/26, amends multiple sentencing and vacatur statutes and adds new sections to chapters 9.94A and 9.96 RCW (and a reporting section in chapter 72.09 RCW) to create remedies and alternative sentencing procedures for defendants who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking. It establishes a new procedural pathway by which a sentencing court may find a defendant is a “verified victim” whose pattern of severe or coercive abuse was the primary and proximate cause of the criminal conduct and, when a contemporaneous nexus exists and standard sentencing would be unduly harsh, reduce incarceration or impose alternatives. The bill defines types of evidence courts may consider, requires the court to make qualifying findings before reducing penalties, and specifies that remote or purely historical abuse without contemporaneous connection does not qualify. The bill creates a specific sentencing alternative that allows the court, when appropriate, to waive the standard-range term and applicable enhancements and impose either a reduced confinement term plus an extended term of community custody or waive confinement and impose extended community custody; the combined confinement plus community custody may not exceed the applicable standard range and enhancements. Courts may depart downward from standard ranges and certain mandatory minimums to the extent allowed by law (with specified exceptions), may order risk assessments or screenings, and may require reporting and sanctions for violations of community custody. The act also creates resentencing and vacatur procedures: incarcerated persons serving specified long terms may petition for resentencing with corroborating evidence, and people who have completed their sentences may apply to vacate convictions if the statutory survivor criteria are met; in some instances a court may grant relief based solely on the applicant’s sworn testimony. The bill also amends exceptional‑sentence procedures to require written findings and limit review, and it includes notice and victim‑participation requirements and appeal rights for petition decisions. Statutory changes are made to, among others, RCW 9.94A.501, 9.94A.533, 9.94A.535, 9.94A.540, 9.94A.570, 9.94A.640, and 9.96.060, and it adds reporting requirements (new section in chapter 72.09 RCW) for implementation data with an expiration date for the reporting provision. The act conditions its own effectiveness on specific funding in the omnibus appropriations act by June 30, 2026. Important details are missing from the extracted text: the bill’s effective dates and an expiration date referenced in the header are not provided here, the identity of “the department” repeatedly referenced is not specified in the available excerpts, Section 4 and other portions appear truncated, and the full lists of ineligible offenses and some cross‑referenced subsections are not included.

If enacted, the law would give judges a clear path to reduce prison time or replace confinement with longer community supervision for people whose criminal acts were primarily caused by contemporaneous domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking. That means some incarcerated survivors and future defendant-survivors could get shorter stays behind bars, resentencing hearings (including for those now serving long terms), or even vacatur of certain convictions, which would lessen collateral barriers to housing and employment. Courts will decide eligibility based on a range of evidence and must make written findings; a number of serious offenses remain excluded, and the timing rules for petitions and which convictions qualify are partly absent from the provided text. The practical burdens shift to the court system, prosecutors, and correctional authorities: courts will see more hearings and must document findings; correctional agencies (the unnamed “department” referenced) will perform risk assessments, supervise extended community custody, report violations to courts, and may need resources for monitoring; the State Patrol and local agencies must promptly update and transmit vacatur orders to the FBI and restrict dissemination. The bill requires a state report on implementation within three years and will not take effect without specific funding by June 30, 2026, so the scale and speed of these changes—and which agency is responsible for some duties—remain unclear from the extracted text.