Bill To Remove Unfair Housing Practices Clears Senate

seattlemedium

OLYMPIA � A bill to ensure victims of domestic violence have fair and equal access to housing passed the Senate on Monday night.

tenant verification

Senate Bill 5568, sponsored by Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, received a 46-3 vote and will now move to the House for further consideration.

This bill, the Fair Tenant Screening Act Part 2, expands the original act to include protections for victims of domestic violence.

�We made great progress on the Fair Tenant Screening Act a few years ago and this bill helps finish the work we started on it,� Hobbs said. �Being a victim of domestic violence is a trauma I couldn�t imagine. There�s no reason why someone should have to have that horrible incident brought up again while looking for a home. This bill prevents that from happening.�

Currently, tenant screening reports are allowed to contain information about domestic violence protection orders and eviction lawsuits. This bill will remove that information from those reports.

This article originally appeared on seattlemedium