Call Recording Laws in Washington

Plain-English summary

Washington is an all-party-consent state. Wash. Rev. Code § 9.73.030 prohibits recording any “private communication” without the consent of all participants. The Washington Supreme Court has read “private communication” broadly, including any conversation a reasonable person would expect not to be recorded.

Section 9.73.030(3) provides that consent may be obtained by “any one party announcing to all other parties engaged in the communication or conversation, in any reasonably effective manner, that such communication or conversation is about to be recorded” — if no one objects and the recording continues, consent is treated as given. The standard customer-service preamble satisfies this rule. State v. Townsend, 147 Wn.2d 666 (2002), and Kadoranian v. Bellingham Police Dept., 119 Wn.2d 178 (1992), interpret the scope of § 9.73.030.

Case law of note

No appellate decision in Washington has materially reshaped the participant-recording rule in recent decades. Lower-court decisions exist but do not change the analytical framework set by the statute and by general federal precedent under § 2511.

Edge cases and special rules

In-person vs. phone. Same — all-party for private communications
Voicemail. Leaving a message creates the recording at the recipient’s direction; reviewing one’s own voicemail is not interception.
Vicarious consent. Several federal courts have recognized a parental-consent doctrine permitting a parent to consent on behalf of a minor child (Pollock v. Pollock, 154 F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1998)). State law varies; no controlling Washington appellate decision on the question.
Law enforcement. Court-authorized intercepts are governed by a separate framework and are outside the scope of this page.
Cross-border calls. Where any participant is in an all-party state, treat the stricter rule as the safer default. See cross-border calls.

Penalties and remedies

Criminal: Gross misdemeanor; § 9.73.080.

Civil: Yes — § 9.73.060 provides $100 per day statutory damages and actual damages.

Evidence: a recording made in violation of the Washington statute is generally inadmissible in Washington proceedings. Federal § 2515 separately bars use of unlawfully intercepted communications in federal proceedings.

Practical guidance

If you are recording an ordinary phone call: obtain audible consent from every party at the start of the call.
Suggested opening: See our consent script templates for jurisdiction-specific language.
If the other party objects: stop recording. Continued recording over an objection is a separate factual question that no consent statute helps you with.
What to keep: the date and time of the call, the parties’ phone numbers, a description of the consent given (express verbal, continued participation after notice, etc.), and the audio file itself.