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Law / United States / Washington

HB 1493, Biometric Privacy Law

RCW 19.375; HB 1493, chapter 299, Laws of 2017

A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.

What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.

In force since 23 July 2017.

A biometric privacy rule binding private bodies.

As of 23 August 2026.

What it requires

  • Provide notice, obtain consent, or provide a mechanism to prevent use, before enrolling a biometric identifier such as a voiceprint or faceprint in a database for a commercial purpose. This duty does not reach an identifier generated from a photo, video, or audio recording.
  • Retain an enrolled biometric identifier no longer than reasonably necessary for the purpose it was enrolled for, a legal retention duty, or fraud and security prevention needs.

If you get it wrong

Private right of actionNo

What it reaches

Excludes recording-derived identifiersYes

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

Requires a person to provide notice, obtain consent, or provide a mechanism to prevent use, before enrolling an individual's biometric identifier in a database for a commercial purpose.

Biometric identifier is defined as data from automatic measurement of biological characteristics such as fingerprint, voiceprint, retina, or iris, but the definition excludes any identifier generated from a photo, video, or audio recording and any Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) covered information, so a faceprint or voiceprint pulled from an existing recording falls outside this statute even though the same identifier is covered as consumer health data under the My Health My Data Act.

An enrolled identifier may be retained no longer than reasonably necessary for the purpose it was enrolled for, a legal retention duty, or fraud and security prevention, and the chapter separately exempts Gramm-Leach-Bliley financial institutions and law enforcement.

When LexLint raises it

  • processes_biometrics
  • processes_voice
  • deploys_chatbot

Read the law

official codified statute text, Revised Code of Washington, and the official Washington State Legislature bill history for HB 1493

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

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