Law / United States / 
Washington
Washington fair chance to education act: institutions of higher education may not use an initial admissions application that asks about criminal history
RCW 28B.160.010 to 28B.160.040; chapter 83, Laws of 2018
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding government bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Disclosure
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- This binds the state universities, the regional universities, The Evergreen State College, and the community colleges and technical colleges that receive state funds; it reaches an admissions application vendor only through the institution that uses the application (RCW 28B.160.010(3) and 28B.160.020).
- If you are an institution of higher education, do not use an initial admissions application that requests information about the criminal history of the applicant (RCW 28B.160.020(1)).
- If you use a third-party admissions application that contains information about the criminal history of the applicant, post a notice on your website stating that you may not automatically or unreasonably deny an applicant's admission or restrict access to campus residency based on the applicant's criminal history (RCW 28B.160.020(2)).
- You may inquire into or obtain an applicant's criminal history after the applicant has otherwise been determined to be qualified for admission, to accept or deny admission, restrict access to campus residency, or offer supportive counseling or services; do not automatically or unreasonably deny an applicant's admission or restrict access to campus residency based on that history (RCW 28B.160.030).
- Maintain a written process for deciding whether an applicant's criminal history bears on a specific academic program or campus residency, which considers the applicant's age at the time, the time elapsed, the nature of the history, and evidence of rehabilitation or good conduct (RCW 28B.160.040).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
What record it asks for
Logging duty
RCW 28B.160.020 to 28B.160.040 limit the admissions application, require a website notice and a written process. They require no log of applicant inquiries, set no content fields, name no audit and give no party a right to demand a record.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
RCW 28B.160.020(1) bars an institution of higher education from using an initial admissions application that requests information about the criminal history of the applicant, except as subsection (2) allows.
An institution may use a third-party admissions application that contains information about the criminal history of the applicant if it posts a notice on its website stating that it may not automatically or unreasonably deny an applicant's admission or restrict access to campus residency based on an applicant's criminal history.
After an applicant has otherwise been determined to be qualified for admission, an institution may, but is not required to, inquire into or obtain information about the applicant's criminal history for the purpose of accepting or denying admission or restricting access to campus residency, or of offering supportive counseling or services to help rehabilitate and educate the student on barriers a criminal record may present.
After inquiring into or obtaining that information, the institution may not automatically or unreasonably deny an applicant's admission or restrict access to campus residency based on that applicant's criminal history. Each institution must develop a process to determine whether there is a relationship between an applicant's criminal history and a specific academic program or campus residency that justifies denial of admission or restricted access to campus residency.
The process must be set forth in writing and must consider the applicant's age when the criminal history occurred, the time that has elapsed, the nature of the criminal history, and evidence of rehabilitation or good conduct produced by the applicant. The chapter defines institutions of higher education as the state universities, the regional universities, The Evergreen State College, the community colleges and the technical colleges that receive state funds. Chapter 83, Laws of 2018, took effect on .
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