Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGO 1978 NO. 9 >

Although a bona fide charitable or nonprofit organization organized primarily for purposes other than the conduct of gambling activities may, under the circumstances set forth in RCW 9.46.030(3), conduct bingo, raffles and amusement games without obtaining a license from the State Gambling Commission to do so, that organization may not lawfully conduct a "fund-raising event" as defined in RCW 9.46.020(23) without obtaining such a license.

AGO 2008 NO. 9 >

1.  For the purposes of Laws of 2008, ch. 278, § 1(3), a person who offers to purchase a distressed home, and no more, does not thereby become a “distressed home consultant.”  2.  For the purposes of Laws of 2008, ch. 278, §§ 2, 3, a real estate licensee would likely become a “distressed home consultant” if the real estate licensee contacts the distressed homeowner’s lender to arrange a “short sale” in which the homeowner’s debt to the lender will be discharged for the amount of the sale price of the home when the sale price is less than the homeowner owes on the loan.  3.  For the purposes of Laws of 2008, ch. 278, §§ 2, 3, a real estate licensee becomes a “distressed home consultant” by performing licensed activities in connection with a real estate transaction when the property involved is a “distressed home,” if the licensee (1) solicits the owner; (2) offers to perform a service on the owner’s behalf; and (3) represents that the service will satisfy one or more of the conditions listed in Laws of 2008, ch. 278, § 1(3)(a).

AGO 1985 NO. 10 >

It is not legally necessary, in order for a previously married woman to change her last name following a dissolution of marriage, for her to seek and obtain a court order so changing her name pursuant to RCW 4.24.130 or RCW 26.09.150.

AGO 1965 NO. 11 >

Under RCW 9.41.070 the fee chargeable for a license to carry a concealed weapon is $1.00, and no other or greater fee may be charged.

AGLO 1978 NO. 14 >

Under the provisions of RCW 23A.40.075 and related statutes, the Secretary of State does not have the legal authority to exercise discretion and restore the privilege of doing business to a corporation which has failed to acquire an annual license fee for three years and which has failed to reinstate within the following two years.

AGLO 1982 NO. 14 >

The Department of Social and Health Services, in its capacity as the state radiation control agency under chapter 70.98 RCW, is authorized by § 2, chapter 201, Laws of 1982 to establish and impose license fees in connection with licenses issued pursuant to RCW 70.98.080.

AGO 1973 NO. 15 >

The provisions of § 7, chapter 218, Laws of 1973, Ex.Sess., under which gambling activities licensed by the state gambling commission may be prohibited by a first class city, do not extend to cities in excess of twenty thousand which have adopted the optional municipal code.

AGLO 1979 NO. 15 >


Where a person has obtained an anadromous salmon angling license for a particular calendar year and during that year has caught a total of 30 salmon pursuant to such license, that person must then purchase another annual license in order to be lawfully able to catch any more salmon within the state during the remainder of the same calendar year.

AGO 1972 NO. 18 >

(1) The Washington state liquor control board probably does not possess the requisite authority, under existing statutes, to adopt and enforce a regulation disqualifying from class H licensure those private clubs which are governed by a written constitution, bylaw or house rule excluding persons from membership or use of the club's facilities because of race, creed, color or national origin. (2) The legislature may constitutionally grant to the liquor control board the requisite statutory authority to adopt such a regulation.

AGLO 1979 NO. 19 >

Consideration of the applicability of RCW 66.28.010 to a certain factual situation involving a married couple of which the wife is the owner of a small grocery store in connection with which she holds retail beer and wine licenses while the husband, in turn, is a salaried truck driver for a beer distributor which holds various wholesale liquor licenses.