Spokane Municipal Code

Title 18 Human Rights

Chapter 18.01 Law Against Discrimination

Section 18.01.030 Definitions

1. “Commission” means the Spokane Human Rights Commission.

2. "Data management protocols" means the procedures governing how data collected by surveillance equipment will be retained, stored, indexed and accessed. Information comprising data management protocols includes, at a minimum, the information required in SMC 18.04.020.

3. “Disability” means the presence of a sensory, mental, or physical impairment that, whether temporary or permanent, common or uncommon, mitigated or unmitigated, a limitation or not on the ability to work generally or work at a particular job, or a limitation or not on the ability to engage in any other activity within the scope of this Title 18:

   1. is medically cognizable or diagnosable; or

   2. exists as a record or history; or

   3. is perceived to exist whether or not it exists in fact.

   4. For the purposes of reasonable accommodation in employment, an impairment must be known or shown through an interactive process to exist in fact and:

      1. The impairment must have a substantially limiting effect upon the individual’s ability to perform his or her job, the individual’s ability to apply or be considered for a job, or the individual’s access to equal benefits, privileges, or terms or conditions or employment; or

      2. The employee must have put the employer on notice of the existence of an impairment, and medical documentation must establish a reasonable likelihood that engaging in job functions without an accommodation would aggravate the impairment to the extent that it would create a substantially limiting effect.

   5. For purposes of this definition, a limitation is not substantial if it has only a trivial effect.

   6. For purposes of housing, a “reasonable accommodation” is an adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, including public and common use spaces, where there is an identifiable relationship or nexus between the requested accommodation and the person’s disability.

4. “Discrimination” means different or unequal treatment because of race, religion, creed, color, sex, national origin, marital status, familial status, domestic violence victim status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, honorably discharged veteran or military status, refugee status, disability, the use of a guide dog or service animal, or the use or eligibility for the use of housing choice or other subsidy program or alternative source of income. “Discriminate” means to treat differently or unequally because of race, religion, creed, color, sex, national origin, marital status, familial status, domestic violence victim status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, honorably discharged veteran or military status, refugee status, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or the Washington State Law Against Discrimination, or the use or eligibility for the use of housing choice or other subsidy program or alternative source of income. For purposes of this definition, it is discriminatory to fail to offer reasonable accommodation in housing or employment to an otherwise qualified applicant or employee with a disability, absent a showing that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship.

5. “Dog guide” means a dog that is specifically trained for the purpose of guiding persons who are blind or a dog trained for the purpose of assisting persons with disabilities.

6. “Domestic Violence Victim Status” means a family or household member, as defined in RCW 10.99.020 (3), who has been subjected to domestic violence as defined in RCW 10.99.020 (5) or who is a victim of sexual assault as defined in RCW 70.125.030.

7. “Employee” means an individual who works for wages, salary or commission, or a combination thereof, in the service of an employer, but does not include a person employed by a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, spouse or child. The term includes an individual who is seeking or applying for employment. This definition does not include independent contractors.

8. “Employer” means any person acting in the interest of an employer, directly or indirectly, who employs employees within the City, or who solicits individuals within the City to apply for employment within the City, including the City of Spokane and all its boards, commissions and authorities.

9. “Entities under common ownership” means two or more legal entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and the like which are: owned by the same person(s); in which the same person(s) serve as officers and/or directors; or the majority of one of which is owned by one or more of the others. For example, if a single person owns controlling interests in several limited liability companies, all of those limited liability companies are entities under common ownership.

10. “Family with children status” means one or more individuals who have not attained the age of eighteen years being domiciled with a parent or another person having legal custody of such individual or individuals, or with the designee of such parent or other person having such legal custody, with the written permission of such parent or other person. Families with children status also applies to any person who is pregnant or is in the process of securing legal custody of any individual who has not attained the age of eighteen years.

11. “Federally-recognized tribe” means an entity listed on the Department of the Interior's list under the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994, which the Secretary currently acknowledges as an Indian tribe and with which the United States maintains a government-to-government relationship.

12. "Gender Identity" means having or being perceived as having a gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression, whether or not that gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth.

13. “Housing choice or other subsidy program(( or alternative source of income))” means, without limitation: (i) any short or long term federal, state or local government, private nonprofit, or other assistance program in which a tenant's rent is paid either partially by the program (through a direct arrangement between the program and the owner or lessor of the real property), and partially by the tenant or completely by the program; or (ii) HUD-Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers, Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) funds, and short-term rental assistance provided by Rapid Rehousing subsidies.

14. “Impairment” includes, without limitation, any:

    1. physiological disorder, or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: Neurological, musculoskeletal, special sense organs, respiratory, including speech organs, cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genitor-urinary, hemic and lymphatic, skin and endocrine; or

    2. mental, developmental, traumatic, or psychological disorder, including but not limited to cognitive limitation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities.

15. “Income” means lawful, verifiable income derived from all sources, including without limitation wages, salaries or other compensation for employment; Social Security benefits; supplemental security income; unemployment benefits; retirement programs; child support; payments from the Aged, Blind or Disabled Cash Assistance Program; Refugee Cash Assistance; any federal, state, local government, private, or nonprofit-administered benefit program, including without limitation payments from any housing choice or other subsidy program as defined in this chapter; financial aid for college students; and per capita payments or distributions received from a federally-recognized tribe.

16. “Labor organization” means an organization which is constituted for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or for dealing with an employer concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in connection with an employer.

17. “Marital status” means the status of being married, single, separated, divorced or widowed.

18. “National origin” includes ancestry.

19. "Operational protocols" means the procedures governing how and when surveillance equipment may be used and by whom and includes, at a minimum, the information required in SMC 18.04.010.

20. “Person” includes:

    1. A natural individual, partnership, association, organization, corporation, cooperative, legal representative, trustee and receiver, and any group of persons acting in concert;

    2. an owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, agent or employee, of a person, whether consisting of one or more natural persons;

    3. entities under common ownership; and

    4. any political or civil subdivisions of the City and any agency or instrumentality of the City or of any political or civil subdivision thereof.

    This definition does not include the federal government or any federally-recognized tribe.

21. "Place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage or amusement" includes, but is not limited to, any place, licensed or unlicensed, kept for gain, hire or reward, or where charges are made for admission, service, occupancy, or use of any property or facilities, whether conducted for the entertainment, housing, or lodging of transient guests, or for the benefit, use, or accommodation of those seeking health, recreation, or rest, or for the burial or other disposition of human remains, or for the sale of goods, merchandise, services, or personal property, or for the rendering of personal services, or for public conveyance or transportation on land, water or in the air, including the stations and terminals thereof and the garaging of vehicles, or where food or beverages of any kind are sold for consumption on the premises, or where public amusement, entertainment, sports, or recreation of any kind is offered with or without charge, or where medical service or care is made available, or where the public gathers, congregates, or assembles for amusement, recreation, or public purposes, or public halls, public elevators, and public washrooms of buildings and structures occupied by two or more tenants, or by the owner and one or more tenants, or any public library or educational institution, or schools of special instruction, or nursery schools, or day care centers or children’s camps, provided that nothing contained in this definition shall be construed to include or apply to any institute, bona fide club, or place of accommodation, which is by its nature distinctly private, including fraternal organizations, though where public use is permitted that use shall be covered by this section; nor shall anything contained in this definition apply to any educational facility, columbarium, crematory, mausoleum, or cemetery operated or maintained by a bona fide religious or sectarian institution.

22. “Profiling” means actions of the Spokane Police Department, its members, or officers commissioned by the Spokane Police Department to rely on actual or perceived race, religion, national origin, color, creed, age, citizenship status, immigration status, refugee status, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, socio-economic status, housing status, or membership in any protected class under federal, state or local law as the determinative factor in initiating law enforcement action against an individual, rather than an individual’s behavior or other information or circumstances that links a person or persons to suspected unlawful activity.

23. “Refugee status” means the status of a person who, under the provisions of 8 USC 1101(a)(42), is outside a country of that person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which that person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

24. “Service animal” means an animal that is trained for the purposes of assisting or accommodating a person with a disability.

25. “Sex” means gender.

26. “Sexual orientation” means heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality and gender expression or identity. As used in this definition, "gender expression or identity" means having or being perceived as having a gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression, whether or not that gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth.

27. "Surveillance equipment" means equipment capable of capturing or recording data, including images, videos, photographs or audio operated by or at the direction of a City department that may deliberately or inadvertently capture activities of individuals on public or private property, regardless of whether "masking" or other technology might be used to obscure or prevent the equipment from capturing certain views. "Surveillance equipment" includes drones or unmanned aircraft and any attached equipment used to collect data. "Surveillance equipment" does not include the following equipment which are in use by the City of Spokane as of March 1, 2017:

    1. handheld or body-worn devices (e.g., “bodycams”) used by law enforcement;

    2. cameras installed in or on a police vehicle (e.g., “dashcams”);

    3. cameras installed in or on any City-owned vehicle, including without limitation fire trucks, emergency vehicles, utility vehicles and street maintenance vehicles, which are intended to ensure the safe operation of the vehicle;

    4. cameras installed along a public right-of-way to record traffic patterns and/or traffic violations;

    5. cameras intended to record activity inside or at the entrances to City buildings for security purposes; or

    6. cameras installed to monitor and protect the physical integrity of City infrastructure, including without limitation fire stations and utility service facilities.

Date Passed: Monday, August 28, 2017

Effective Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2017

ORD C35537 Section 1