Title 2, COURTS OF RECORD

From time to time, the superior judge of the county shall certify the amount due any such bailiff, and order the payment thereof; and thereupon the county auditor shall issue to such bailiff a warrant on the county treasurer, payable out of the general fund [current expense fund]…

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter. (1) "Civil rights restored" means a person's right to vote has been automatically restored prior to reporting for jury service. (2) "Court" when used without further qual…

There shall be three kinds of juries— (1) A grand jury. (2) A petit jury. (3) A jury of inquest. [ 1891 c 48 s 2; RRS s 90.]

In courts of limited jurisdiction, juries shall be selected and impaneled in the same manner as in the superior courts, except that a court of limited jurisdiction shall use the master jury list developed by the superior court to select a jury panel. Jurors for the jury panel may…

Pursuant to an agreement between the judge or judges of each superior court and the judge or judges of each court of limited jurisdiction, jury management activities may be performed by the superior court for any county or judicial district as provided by statute. [ 1988 c 188 s …

Unless otherwise specified by rule of the supreme court, the jury source list and master jury list for each county shall be created as provided by this section. (1) The superior court of each county, after consultation with the county clerk and county auditor of that jurisdiction…

The superior court at least annually shall cause a jury source list to be compiled from a list of all registered voters and a list of licensed drivers and identicard holders residing in the county. In a county with more than one superior court facility and a separate case assignm…

The supreme court is requested to adopt court rules regarding methodology and standards for merging the list of registered voters in Washington state with the list of licensed drivers and identicard holders in Washington state for purposes of creating an expanded jury source list…

The secretary of state, the department of licensing, and Washington technology solutions shall adopt administrative rules as necessary to provide for the implementation of the methodology and standards established pursuant to RCW 2.36.057 and 2.36.054 or by supreme court rule. [ …

The judge or judges of the superior court of any county may employ a properly programmed electronic data processing system or device to compile the jury source list, and to compile the master jury list and to randomly select jurors from the master jury list. [ 1993 c 408 s 6; 198…

It shall be the duty of the judges of the superior court to ensure continued random selection of the master jury list and jury panels, which shall be done without regard to whether a person's name originally appeared on the list of registered voters, or on the list of licensed dr…

A person shall be competent to serve as a juror in the state of Washington unless that person: (1) Is less than eighteen years of age; (2) Is not a citizen of the United States; (3) Is not a resident of the county in which he or she has been summoned to serve; (4) Is not able to …

(1) Each court shall establish a means to preliminarily determine by a written or electronic declaration signed under penalty of perjury by the person summoned, the qualifications set forth in RCW 2.36.070 of each person summoned for jury duty prior to their appearance at the cou…

(1) It is the policy of this state that all persons selected for jury service be selected at random from a fair cross section of the population of the area served by the court, and that all qualified citizens have the opportunity in accordance with chapter 135, Laws of 1979 ex. s…

(1) At such time as the judge or judges of any court of any county shall deem that the public business requires a jury term to be held, the judge or judges shall direct that a jury panel be selected and summoned to serve for the ensuing jury term or terms. (2) The court shall est…

(1) Persons selected to serve on a petit jury, grand jury, or jury of inquest shall be summoned by mail or personal service, or electronically. The county clerk shall issue summons and thereby notify persons selected for jury duty. The clerk may issue summons for any jury term, i…

(1) Except for a person who is not qualified for jury service under RCW 2.36.070 or who chooses to opt out of jury service under subsection (2) of this section, no person may be excused from jury service by the court except upon a showing of undue hardship, extreme inconvenience,…

It shall be the duty of a judge to excuse from further jury service any juror, who in the opinion of the judge, has manifested unfitness as a juror by reason of bias, prejudice, indifference, inattention or any physical or mental defect or by reason of conduct or practices incomp…

If for any reason the jurors drawn for service upon a jury for any term shall not be sufficient to dispose of the pending jury business, or where no jury is in regular attendance and the business of the court may require the attendance of a jury before a regular term, the judge o…

Jurors shall receive for each day's attendance, besides mileage at the rate determined under RCW 43.03.060, the following expense payments: (1) Grand jurors may receive up to twenty-five dollars but in no case less than ten dollars; (2) Petit jurors may receive up to twenty-five …

(1) An employer shall provide an employee with a sufficient leave of absence from employment to serve as a juror when that employee is summoned pursuant to chapter 2.36 RCW. (2) An employer shall not deprive an employee of employment or threaten, coerce, or harass an employee, or…

A person summoned for jury service who intentionally fails to appear as directed shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. [ 1988 c 188 s 14.] Notes: Legislative findings—Severability—Effective date—1988 c 188: See notes following RCW 2.36.010.

The administrative office of the courts shall provide all courts with a method to collect data on a juror's race, ethnicity, age, sex, employment status, educational attainment, and income, as well as any other data approved by order of the chief justice of the Washington state s…

Witnesses shall receive for each day's attendance in all courts of record of this state the same compensation per day and per mile as jurors in superior court. Witnesses in any other court shall receive for each day's attendance the same compensation per day and per mile as juror…

Witnesses in civil cases shall be entitled to receive, upon demand, their fees for one day's attendance, together with mileage going to the place where they are required to attend, if such demand is made to the officer or person serving the subpoena at the time of service. [Code …

Whenever a juror, witness, or officer is required to attend a court, or travel on official business out of the limits of his or her own county, and entitled to mileage, in lieu thereof he or she may at his or her option receive his or her actual and necessary traveling expenses b…

No attorney in any case shall be allowed any fees as a witness in such case. [Code 1881 s 2095; 1869 p 374 s 17; RRS s 502.]

It is hereby declared to be the policy of this state to secure the constitutional rights of deaf persons and of other persons who, because of impairment of hearing or speech, are unable to readily understand or communicate the spoken English language, and who consequently cannot …

Every qualified interpreter appointed under this chapter in a judicial or administrative proceeding shall, upon receiving the interpreter's initial qualification from the office of the deaf and hard of hearing, take an oath that a true interpretation will be made to the person be…

As used in this chapter, the following terms have the meanings indicated unless the context clearly requires otherwise. (1) "Impaired person" means a person who, because of a hearing or speech impairment, cannot readily understand or communicate in spoken language; and includes p…

(1) If a hearing impaired person is a party or witness at any stage of a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding in the state or in a political subdivision, including but not limited to civil and criminal court proceedings, grand jury proceedings, proceedings before a magistrate, j…

(1) If a qualified interpreter for a hearing impaired person is required, the appointing authority shall request a qualified interpreter and/or an intermediary interpreter through the department of social and health services, office of deaf services, or through any community cent…

If the communication mode or language of the hearing impaired person is not readily interpretable, the interpreter or hearing impaired person shall notify the appointing authority who shall appoint and pay an intermediary interpreter to assist the qualified interpreter. [ 1985 c …

(1) The right to a qualified interpreter may not be waived except when: (a) A hearing impaired person requests a waiver through the use of a qualified interpreter; (b) The counsel, if any, of the hearing impaired person consents; and (c) The appointing authority determines that t…

(1) A qualified and/or intermediary interpreter shall not, without the written consent of the parties to the communication, be examined as to any communication the interpreter interprets under circumstances where the communication is privileged by law. (2) A qualified and/or inte…

A qualified and/or intermediary interpreter appointed under this chapter is entitled to a reasonable fee for services, including waiting time and reimbursement for actual necessary travel expenses. The fee for services for interpreters for hearing impaired persons shall be in acc…

At the request of any party to the proceeding or on the appointing authority's initiative, the appointing authority may order that the testimony of the hearing impaired person and the interpretation of the proceeding by the qualified interpreter be visually recorded for use in ve…

It is hereby declared to be the policy of this state to secure the rights, constitutional or otherwise, of persons who, because of a non-English-speaking cultural background, are unable to readily understand or communicate in the English language, and who consequently cannot be f…

As used in this chapter: (1) "Credentialed interpreter" means an interpreter who is credentialed by the administrative office of the courts in a spoken language. (2) "Judicial officer" means a judge, commissioner, or magistrate of any court. (3) "Language access plan" means a pla…

(1)(a) Credentialed interpreters shall be appointed in legal proceedings involving participation of persons with limited English proficiency, unless good cause is found on the record for appointing a noncredentialed interpreter. (b) For purposes of this chapter, "good cause" incl…

(1)(a) Upon obtaining an interpreter credential with the administrative office of the courts, credentialed interpreters shall take a permanent oath, affirming that the interpreter will make a true interpretation of all the proceedings and that the interpreter will repeat the stat…

(1) The right to an interpreter may not be waived except when: (a) A person with limited English proficiency requests a waiver on the record; and (b) The judicial or presiding officer determines on the record that the waiver has been made knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently…

All language interpreters serving in a legal proceeding, whether or not credentialed, shall abide by a code of professional responsibility for judiciary interpreters established by supreme court rule. [ 2025 c 55 s 6; 1989 c 358 s 8. Formerly RCW 2.43.080, 2.42.270.] Notes: Sever…

The court shall appoint a team of interpreters as required by supreme court rule. [ 2025 c 55 s 7.]

(1) Subject to the availability of funds, the administrative office of the courts shall establish and maintain a credentialing program for spoken language interpreters and administer comprehensive testing. (2) The administrative office of the courts shall work cooperatively with …

(1) Interpreters appointed according to this chapter are entitled to a reasonable fee for their services and shall be reimbursed for actual expenses which are reasonable as provided in this section. (2)(a) In all legal proceedings, a person with limited English proficiency is not…