Legislative Updates

HB: Enacts the cosmetology licensure compact.

E2SHB: Requires the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) to provide information to recently discharged veterans about veterans benefits and services. Changes the definition of an eligible county under the Veterans Service Officer Program (Program) from a county with a population of 100,000 or less to a county where the percentage of the veteran population receiving federal disability or pension compensation is below the national average. Prioritizes counties with the lowest percentage of veterans receiving benefits for the Program. Requires WDVA to provide reports every two years including county specific information about the number of resident veterans and services available. Delays implementation of most provisions to July 1, 2028.

EHB: Reduces the combined service-connected evaluation rating percentage for disabled veterans from 80 percent to 40 percent in 2027 in order to qualify for the Senior Citizens Property Tax Exemption Program.

HB: Enacts the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact.

Authorizes veterans who have a 70 percent disability rating or higher from either the United States Armed Forces or United States Department of Veterans Affairs and who use a service animal as defined in federal law to apply for special parking privileges for persons with disabilities.

Requests the Washington State Transportation Commission to commence proceedings to designate the bridge that carries Interstate 90 over the Columbia River near Vantage, Washington as the "Medal of Honor Bridge" to show respect and remember Medal of Honor recipients.

An exemption from the state's AFH licensure requirements is provided for a MFH that is under the oversight and annually reviewed by the VA in which care is provided exclusively to three or fewer veterans, and its caregivers are in compliance with applicable state laws including any required training, certification, and background checks. MFH caregivers are considered to be long-term care workers. MFHs are added to the list of facilities where the person admitted to one of those facilities is considered a vulnerable adult. MFH caregivers are also considered to be providers who may not be employed in the care of and have unsupervised access to vulnerable adults if certain circumstances are met.

Allowing for the creation of 13 special license plates including the Naval Academy Plate.

Family home providers located in the surrounding metropolitan area of a federal military reservation that is overseen and currently certified by a federal military service is not an agency, which exempts this type of provider from child-care licensing by DCYF. DCYF must investigate all referrals of alleged child abuse or neglect occurring at these family home providers.

Gubernatorial Appointment for David Puente Jr.

(Companion to SB 5539) 2SHB: Extends employment protection rights in the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Program to any employee who began employment with their current employer at least 180 calendar days before taking leave. Allows employers to prevent stacking of certain employment protection rights by extending employment protection in the PFML Program to periods of unpaid leave protected by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Requires employers to provide notice to employees estimating the expiration of employment protection. Expands health care coverage protection during any period in which an employee receives PFML Program benefits and is also entitled to employment protection.

HB: Allows a client's written acknowledgement of a disclosure statement provided by certain behavioral health providers, as well as information obtained from the client in a professional capacity in order to render professional services, to be disclosed under the Uniform Health Care Information Act.

Companion to SB 5345: SHB: Requires a private employer to provide an employee or former employee with a copy of the employee's personnel file within 21 days of a request, and requires a public employer to do so in accordance with the requirements and procedures of the Public Records Act. Requires a private employer to provide to a former employee, upon request, a statement of the employee's discharge date and reasons, if any, for the discharge. Creates a private cause of action with statutory damages for enforcing the requirements for private employers to disclose personnel files and provide written discharge statements.

HB: Changes the name of the profession of certified peer specialists to "certified peer support specialists." Makes other changes to existing statute.

ESHB: Requires a baby diaper changing station in both a restroom accessible to women and a restroom accessible to men, or in a gender-neutral restroom, in each newly constructed public building in which a public restroom is required and in any existing public building when a permit is issued for the renovation of a public restroom in the building with an estimated cost of $15,000 or more, with certain exceptions. Allows a required baby diaper changing station to be removed if it is no longer usable to manufacturer standards. Provides that a first violation of the diaper changing station requirement is subject to a warning, with any subsequent violation classified as a class 2 civil infraction. 

Requires that certain subcontractors named by prime contractors in public works projects be licensed at the time they are named by the prime contractor. Removes the inability of a subcontractor to obtain the necessary license as a basis for which a prime contractor may substitute a listed subcontractor. Removes an outdated direction to the Capital Projects Advisory Review Board to prepare a report.

E2SHB: Requires certain health care entities to submit ownership, affiliation, and health care services information on behalf of the entity and its subsidiaries and affiliates to the Department of Health (DOH) on an annual basis. Requires the DOH to make the submitted information publicly available. Requires the DOH, in consultation with others, to develop a plan and provide recommendations to the Legislature on how the reporting requirements may apply to individual and independent health care providers, health care facilities, health carriers, health care benefit managers, and provider organizations, and to provide recommendations on changes to the information certain health care entities are required to provide.

SB: Consolidates regulatory authority relating to competency evaluation, disciplinary authority, and credentialization for nursing assistants under the Board of Nursing.

Expands Board of Nursing composition from 15 to 17 to include nursing assistant members, and an additional registered nurse or licensed practical nurse member.

SSB: Expands access to leave and safety accommodations available to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, to include victims of hate crime.

SSB: Imposes a civil penalty on an employer that coerces an employee based on an employee's or an employee's family member's immigration status in furtherance of the employer committing a violation of wage payment, condition of labor, or agricultural labor requirements. Requires the Department of Labor and Industries to investigate complaints of coercion by employers.

(companion HB 1434) SSB: The state recognizes Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha

ESSB:  Requires an employer to pay an employee for break and travel time to express milk during work at the employee's regular compensation rate, in addition to meal and rest periods.

ESSB: Makes changes to Public Employment Relations Commission procedures related to representation petitions, hearings, and the merging of bargaining units under the Public Employees' Collective Bargaining Act. Prohibits public employers from requiring a worker to waive any federal or state statutory right to make a claim as a condition of settling a grievance under a collective bargaining agreement. 

Concerning temporary compensation reductions for state government employees during the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium.

Concerning wellness incentives for public and school employee health benefit plans. (Eliminates Smart Health)