Olympia ─ A bill  aimed at helping mortgage professionals weed out bad apples in the industry passed the Senate today.

Under Senate Bill 5659, which was sponsored by Sen. Jean Berkey, D-Everett, when the Department of Financial Institutions investigates a mortgage broker for wrongdoing, they have to take into account new mitigating factors. Those factors include:

• The timeliness of the disclosure;
• The cooperation of the licensee during any investigation;
• Any remedial measures taken to correct any flaws in internal procedures;
• The length of time without prior administrative actions against the licensee;
• If the licensee has specific business practices; and
• If the violation should have been reasonably anticipated.

The bill passed the Senate with a vote of 47 to 0 and now goes to the House for consideration.