This bill creates a new statutory resentencing procedure called the "judicial discretion act" by adding a new section to chapter 9.94A RCW, and it also adds a new section to chapter 2.70 RCW and amends RCW 10.73.100 and 9.94A.535. It allows people who are serving terms of total confinement for felony convictions to petition the sentencing court (or its successor) to modify their sentence if the original sentence no longer serves the interests of justice. The bill establishes staged eligibility dates from July 1, 2026 through July 1, 2032 with specific age and time-served thresholds, permits petitioning at any time with prosecuting attorney consent for those who do not meet the listed criteria, and forbids any waiver of the right to petition. The bill is primarily a procedural change that creates a new resentencing mechanism and modifies sentencing law and court procedures; it also amends RCW 9.94A.535 to authorize exceptional sentences below the standard range with required written findings and to treat sentences outside the standard range as determinate. Courts may grant de novo review at a hearing held within 120 days if eligibility is shown by a preponderance, may not increase the original sentence, and face limits on reductions where sentences are indeterminate or subject to statutory mandatory minimums. The statute allows courts to consider rehabilitation, disciplinary records, age, medical frailty, culpability, changed circumstances, and victim impacts, and permits below-mandatory-minimum reductions for certain enhancement terms; the soonest allowable release after resentencing is six months from the hearing date. The bill also includes procedural protections and services: it bars waiver of the petition right, exempts these petitions from the RCW 10.73.090 collateral-attack time limit, requires appointed counsel at no cost to eligible incarcerated persons who cannot afford counsel (with a right to at least one amendment after counsel appears), directs "the department" to give notice to certain inmates and to compile disciplinary and rehabilitation records at no cost on request, requires reentry planning when a modified sentence yields release within six months, mandates prosecuting attorneys make reasonable efforts to notify victims and survivors of hearings, and directs the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy to create a flexible victims fund and contract for victim advocacy and training. The Office of Public Defense is directed to provide representation within available resources and to prioritize cases under the act. Important portions of the bill text are not included in the provided facts: subsection (17) and the remainder of subsection (10) are missing, the specific identity of "the department" is not stated here, and the full amendment texts to RCW 10.73.100 and 9.94A.535 are not provided.

If enacted, people serving felony terms in total confinement will gain a new, staged way to ask their sentencing court to reduce or change their sentences when continuing the original term no longer serves justice. Many people who were young at the time of their offense or who have served long terms will become eligible on set dates between 2026 and 2032; others may petition anytime with the prosecutor’s consent. Courts must hold a hearing within about 120 days if a petitioner meets basic eligibility, cannot increase the original sentence, and must observe limits for indeterminate or mandatory-minimum sentences; petitioners who cannot afford a lawyer may get one through the Office of Public Defense, and inmates will get notice and free assistance from the department to assemble records and, if close to release, a reentry plan. The bill will shift real work and likely costs to several agencies: prosecutors must be served with petitions and make reasonable efforts to notify victims and survivors; the office of crime victims advocacy must create a flexible fund and contract for victim services and training; the department must send advance notices, compile inmate records for free, and prepare reentry plans when release is imminent. Courts will face more resentencing hearings and required written findings for exceptional sentences. The text omits some details—such as which named department handles records and the withheld subsections—so the scope of certain duties and exact exclusions is partly unclear.