OLYMPIA — Gov. Christine Gregoire yesterday signed legislation committing the state to help problem gamblers.

Over time, the legislation will earmark millions of dollars to help compulsive gamblers curb their addiction. Until now, the effort has been subject to the vagaries of budget battles every two years.

State surveys find that at least 5 percent of Washington adults have a problem with compulsive or pathological gambling at some point in their lives, and that some young people already are developing an addiction.

The state-run gambling agencies — the lottery, horse-racing and gambling commissions — are responsible for providing informational signs and hotline telephone numbers.

The private, nonprofit Council on Problem Gambling has provided treatment, in part with financing from tribal and nontribal gambling establishments. In 2002, the Legislature authorized the state Department of Social and Health Services to put together a treatment program for people who can't afford it, but steady state funding never materialized.

Gregoire said the legislation, first proposed by former Gov. Gary Locke and a study group, will expand the state program to cover prevention, as well as treatment, and will provide a steady flow of financing.

A new tax is imposed on operators of social card games, bingo, raffles, punchboard games and pull tabs, with an exemption for "mom and pop" businesses that have gross gambling income of less than $50,000 a year.

The state budget included $1.5 million in the next two years, but the work group said $3.5 million is needed so the program can reach more than 600 gamblers and their families. Tribes already have agreed to kick in more than $450,000 and in mid-2006, the Lottery Commission will contribute to the fund.

Advocates said during legislative hearings that prevention and treatment save money in the long run by cutting down on crime and welfare. The personal cost to families, including the potential loss of home, pension money and college funds, can devastate people, lawmakers were told.

Yesterday, Gregoire also signed:

• a bill that requires a written disclosure form for cemetery-plot purchases, including disclosure of multiple-interment burial spaces.

• a new requirement that local land-use plans include a provision for improving services for pedestrians and bicyclists.

• a measure boosting licensing subagents' service fees for changes in certificates of ownership and preparation of an affidavit of lost title from $8.50 to $10, and for renewing a vehicle registration or other service from $3.50 to $4.

• a measure requiring landlords to pay relocation assistance to tenants who are displaced because their residence is condemned or declared unlawful to occupy.

• a bill requiring law enforcement to provide, if requested, a copy of any police report filed by a consumer claiming to be a victim of identity theft.

• a measure that suspends contributions toward the cost of future gain-sharing benefit distributions in the Public Employees' Retirement System, the School Employees' Retirement System and the Teachers' Retirement System for the 2005-2007 biennium.

• a bill creating an additional $30 fee on Superior Court filings for dissolution, legal separation or declaration concerning the validity of marriage. Of that, $24 will be deposited in a domestic-violence-prevention account and the remaining $6 retained by the county for community-based services for victims of domestic violence.

• a measure creating the Dan Thompson Memorial Developmental Disabilities Community Trust Account. All proceeds from excess property at Rainier School and Lakeland Village, state institutions for the developmentally disabled, will be used to provide community services for people with developmental disabilities.