A Utah-model digital signatures bill was passed in the last session. One difference between Washington and Utah is that although Washington will license Certification Authorities, Washington will not have a public repository as in Utah. There is a high level of awareness and enthusiasm for digital signatures in the State of Washington. The vote was unanimous in the house, there was only one negative vote in Senate, and the Gov signed the bill digitally. Washington's biggest concern is the auditing of CAs to make sure they are using trustworthy system for repositories.
Legislation is for state purposes only.
Secy of State has created a task force to study further expansion to the private sector. CommerceNet and the software industry is monitoring the task force with great interest. A preliminary rough draft of the regs is expected by the end of October, which might reach the stage of public circulation to the task force in March. Under the Legislation and Secy of State will licence CAs within context of CA law, only for state agencies and employees and for individuals who will be submitting digital signatures to the State. She has good website available.