On April 27, 2007, the governor of Washington signed a bill, H.B. 1366, enacting a new shield law in the state. The new statute provides an absolute privilege against compelled disclosure of the identity of a confidential source of information and a qualified privilege in all other cases.
House Bill 1366
AN ACT Relating to a privilege from compelled testimony for members of the news media
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, no judicial, legislative, administrative, or other body with the power to issue a subpoena or other compulsory process may compel the news media to testify, produce, or otherwise disclose:
(a) The identity of a source of any news or information or any information that would tend to identify the source where such source has a reasonable expectation of confidentiality…
(2) A court may compel disclosure of the news or information described in subsection (1)(b) of this section…
