HB 2430 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Concerning the crime victim penalty assessment.

HB 2430 increases Washington's crime victim penalty assessment to $1,000 for felony/gross misdemeanor convictions and $500 for misdemeanors, while creating a waiver for indigent defendants. It allows courts to impose additional surcharges (up to $50,000) on defendants with "substantial financial resources" (household income over 200% of area median income) based on offense severity. The collected funds must be deposited into a county fund exclusively supporting comprehensive victim services, including testimony assistance and restitution help, with strict requirements for program eligibility and administration. This affects all convicted adults (except specific motor vehicle crimes), counties managing the funds, and local victim support programs. The bill also requires cities to contribute a portion of non-parking revenue to this fund.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Feb 6, 2026

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What changed between versions

Bill → Substitute Bill · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill increases the mandatory penalty assessment for convicted criminals from $500 to $1,000 for felonies and from $250 to $500 for misdemeanors. It introduces a new 'substantial financial resources' surcharge of up to $50,000 for wealthy defendants and clarifies that these penalties cannot be waived or converted to community service hours. The bill also adds a new RCW section to standardize the order in which legal financial obligations are paid, prioritizing victim restitution.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope of financial penalties to include a new surcharge for defendants with high incomes and modifies the applicability of the penalty assessment by removing the automatic exemption for indigent defendants, replacing it with a requirement to prove indigency at the sentencing hearing.

FISCAL

Increased the mandatory crime victim penalty assessment from $500 to $1,000 for felony/gross misdemeanor convictions and from $250 to $500 for misdemeanor-only convictions.

Added a new provision allowing courts to impose an additional surcharge of up to $50,000 on defendants found to have 'substantial financial resources' (household income exceeding 200% of the area median income).

ELIGIBILITY

Changed the indigency exemption process from an automatic exclusion to a requirement where the court must find, based on documentary proof, that a defendant is indigent before waiving the penalty assessment.

REQUIREMENT

Added a new definition for 'substantial financial resources' as having a household income exceeding 200 percent of the area median income.

Prohibited the reduction, waiver, or conversion of the crime victim penalty assessment and the new surcharge into community restitution hours, even for indigent defendants.

Added a new subsection to RCW 9.94A.760 establishing a strict priority order for paying legal financial obligations: first to victim restitution, then to insurance sources, then to crime victim assessments, and finally to costs and fines.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 6, 2026

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 10:30 AM.

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Committee

Referred to Appropriations.

lower

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Community Safety at 4:00 PM.

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Community Safety at 1:30 PM.

lower

1 primary · 3 co-sponsors