All Roll Calls
Yes: 134 • No: 59
WashingtonSB 55202025-2026 Regular SessionSenateWALLET
Concerning the wrongly convicted persons act.
Sponsored By: Member 14205
Became Law
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
7 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.
Cash payments for time lost
The law pays $50,000 for each year you were confined for a wrongful conviction. It pays another $50,000 for each year you were under a death sentence, and $25,000 for each year on parole, community custody, or sex-offender registration tied to that case. Partial years are prorated, and amounts are adjusted for inflation from July 28, 2013. Your compensation also covers child support and interest that built up while you were in custody; that sum goes in a lump to DSHS for distribution. You are reimbursed for restitution, fees, assessments, and court costs you paid. If you win, your lawyer gets 10% of the confinement and post‑release amounts plus expenses, capped at $75,000 total, and these fees are not taken from your award.
Repay state after separate tort win
If you get both wrongful‑conviction compensation and a tort award from the state or a local government for the same case, you must repay the smaller amount. Before comparing, the law removes child‑support sums and attorneys’ fees and expenses from the compensation total.
Clear record and reentry help
Courts cannot subtract government costs from your compensation. When the court finds you were wrongly convicted, it must seal your conviction record and can vacate it on request without using other vacatur limits. If you ask, the court must refer you to reentry services for housing, education, mentoring, life and job skills, and treatment for mental health or substance use.
More time and notice to file
You have six years to file after a pardon, judicial relief, or release, whichever is later. That six‑year clock stops while the state appeals or challenges the relief or release. Courts and boards must give you a copy of the compensation law when they grant relief; if you can show you did not get it, you get three extra years to file. People with older wrongful convictions who entered Alford pleas while maintaining innocence get a special three‑year window after the law takes effect. If your claim was denied under the prior law, you may move for reconsideration within one year after the effective date.
College tuition waivers for families
Washington public colleges must waive all tuition and fees for wrongly convicted state domiciliaries. A child or stepchild (including adopted children) also qualifies if they are a Washington domiciliary and the child relationship began before compensation is paid. You must meet satisfactory academic progress, and the waiver is capped at 200 quarter credits (or equivalent). Graduate waivers are encouraged but not required.
Who qualifies and how to prove it
You can file if you were convicted in superior court and imprisoned for felonies you are actually innocent of; an agent may file for you if you are deceased, incapacitated, a minor, or a nonresident, and claims survive to your personal representative. You must show by a preponderance that you did not do the crime, did not commit or procure perjury or fabricate evidence, are not currently incarcerated, and were not serving time for another crime during that confinement. You must also show a pardon on grounds consistent with innocence, or a reversal or vacatur after significant new exculpatory information that ended with dismissal, an Alford plea while maintaining innocence, or a retrial and no conviction. The law defines “actually innocent,” “significant new exculpatory information,” and “wrongly convicted,” and replaces the old definitions. Convictions changed under the Andress or Blake cases do not automatically qualify; you must still meet these rules. The attorney general can concede—and must concede when criteria are met—except when there was no evidentiary hearing on the new information or when the new information is an unvetted recantation; courts must explain any dismissal or summary judgment in writing.
Appeals and interest on awards
If your claim is dismissed, the appeal is reviewed anew (de novo). If the state appeals a win and you still prevail, interest on your award runs from the judgment date.
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Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Member 14205
House
Cosponsors
Bob Hasegawa
Democratic • Senate
Liz Lovelett
Democratic • Senate
Noel Frame
Democratic • Senate
Rebecca Saldaña
Democratic • Senate
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 3/9/2026
Final Passage as Amended by the House
Yes: 31 • No: 18
House vote • 3/6/2026
Final Passage as Amended by the House
Yes: 72 • No: 23 • Other: 3
Senate vote • 2/16/2026
3rd Reading & Final Passage
Yes: 31 • No: 18
Actions Timeline
Effective date 6/11/2026.
3/25/2026SenateChapter 224, 2026 Laws.
3/25/2026SenateGovernor signed.
3/25/2026legislatureDelivered to Governor.
3/12/2026legislatureSpeaker signed.
3/11/2026legislaturePresident signed.
3/11/2026legislaturePassed final passage; yeas, 31; nays, 18; absent, 0; excused, 0.
3/9/2026SenateSenate concurred in House amendments.
3/9/2026HouseThird reading, passed; yeas, 72; nays, 23; absent, 0; excused, 3.
3/6/2026SenateRules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
3/6/2026SenateCommittee amendment(s) adopted with no other amendments.
3/6/2026SenateRules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
3/4/2026SenateReferred to Rules 2 Review.
3/2/2026SenateMinority; without recommendation.
3/2/2026SenateAPP - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).
3/2/2026SenateAPP - Executive action taken by committee.
3/2/2026SenateCRJ - Executive action taken by committee.
2/25/2026SenateMinority; do not pass.
2/25/2026SenateCRJ - Majority; do pass.
2/25/2026SenateReferred to Appropriations.
2/25/2026SenateFirst reading, referred to Civil Rights & Judiciary.
2/17/2026SenateThird reading, passed; yeas, 31; nays, 18; absent, 0; excused, 0.
2/16/2026SenateRules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
2/16/2026Senate1st substitute bill substituted.
2/16/2026SenatePlaced on second reading by Rules Committee.
2/4/2026Senate
Bill Text
Session Law
3/31/2026
Bill as Passed Legislature
3/12/2026
Substitute Bill
1/30/2026
Original Bill
1/27/2025
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