Senate OKs bill to remove alcohol monitoring cost limits

OLYMPIA – Defendants would pay the full cost of pretrial drug and alcohol monitoring under a bill passed by the Senate that removes a price cap for such oversight.

The Senate passed Senate Bill 6134 on a 41-3 vote Wednesday, and the measure now heads to the House. The bill comes following a unanimous Washington Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that found the costs of pretrial electronic alcohol monitoring ordered by a trial court cannot exceed the $150 limit that is set in statute for pretrial supervision.

In the order, the court said the costs for a monitoring bracelet fit under the statutory meaning of “pretrial supervision.”