Blake Refund Bureau Issued Nearly $1 Million in Refunds in 2023
The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) launched the Blake Refund Bureau on July 29, 2023 — a first in the nation, with no other states issuing hundreds of thousands of conviction vacations and fine refunds at one time. The Blake Refund Bureau is AOC’s online reimbursement center for court-ordered fines, fees or costs paid in connection with decades of simple drug possession convictions that were found unconstitutional by the Washington Supreme Courts’ 2021 Blake decision.
As of the end of 2023, the Blake Refund Bureau had over 80,000 website visits to the public portal with more than 45,000 cases uploaded. Application submissions continue to steadily increase, with over 800 applications received, 98 courts submitting and more than 690 checks totaling nearly $1,000,000 issued.
“This is the first technology of its kind to assist with issuing refunds for charges or crimes that were vacated,” said Jamie Kambich, manager of AOC’s Court Business Office. “I think it’s going to set the tone for not only our state, but for other states to follow in similar situations.”
Creation of the Blake Refund Bureau was a legislative directive stemming from the 2021 Washington Supreme Court State v. Blake decision which found the legal statutes that criminalized drug possession were unconstitutional and void. Any Blake-related convictions qualify to be vacated and removed from one’s criminal record, and any legal financial obligations (LFOs) paid as a result qualify for financial reimbursement.
The State v. Blake ruling impacts an estimated 200,000+ felony drug possession charges dating back to the 1970s and an estimated additional 125,000 misdemeanor marijuana charges eligible for vacation.
To administer these reimbursements statewide — with $47 million earmarked towards possession charge vacations, sentencing adjustments, and an additional $51 million set aside for paid LFO refunds — AOC was appointed the task of developing the Blake Refund Bureau in collaboration with courts serving all 39 Washington state counties and 112 separate municipalities.
Through the Bureau’s self-guided, centralized online portal, individuals convicted of simple drug possession, cannabis possession and paraphernalia convictions between 1971 and 2021 are applying daily for financial reimbursements. To help applicants through the process, the Blake Refund Bureau provides comprehensive instructions, resources, refund progress tracking, an online help forum, a hotline service at 360–704–1913, and a how-to video — which shows on-screen navigation of the application steps.
“Since the Blake Refund Bureau launched at the end of July, we’ve been privileged to help hundreds of people get their refunds, and we look forward to helping thousands more in 2024,” AOC’s Chief Financial and Management Officer Chris Stanley said. “The work that began with local courts and community partners in 2021 continues, and we look forward to the day when all Blake-impacted individuals are provided the relief due to them under the Court’s decision.”
The Blake team is active in community education efforts, with ongoing informational presentations to social justice advocacy groups to help raise awareness of the relief opportunities for impacted Blake populations. The team is additionally working with the Washington State Department of Corrections, Living with Conviction and the Washington State Office of Public Defense.
Development of the Blake Refund Bureau
The process of developing the online refund bureau began in the Summer of 2022 with eight developers, a project manager and a quality assurance tester. A short timeline for launch and lack of similar projects in courts nationwide created challenges.
Blake development staff worked to define the needs of Blake stakeholders and then built three different portals — one for Blake-impacted individuals to find and submit their refund, a second for the courts to upload qualifying Blake cases so impacted individuals can view their data, and a third for the Blake Refund Bureau to manage and process the requests.
“Everybody came together to serve a purpose,” Kambich said. “We never lost sight of what the intent of the Supreme Court decision was, as well as the vision of the Blake Refund Bureau and what the intent of their needs were. We never lost sight of that.”
Development of the refund bureau has continued since its launch, with new iterations consistently releasing with new and upgraded features. The current goal is for active development of the Blake Refund Bureau to wrap up in June of 2024.
“The Administrative Office of the Courts is dedicated to working with our justice partners to help inform the vast and diverse Blake-impacted population across Washington state about the potentially life-changing relief opportunities now available to them — collectively working to foster fresh starts through innovative, inspired systems and collaborations,” Washington State Court Administrator Dawn Marie Rubio said.
Read more from our annual State of the Judiciary report.
