Looking for a summary of our Top Bills?
These are the bills we deem major and significant. Click the image below.
Are you looking for a summary of our Top Bills for 2026? These are bills we deem major and significant. If so, use the filter below.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2177 amends Washington’s vital statistics law to modify the definition of “fetal death” by clarifying that gestational age is determined based on the “best clinically accurate gestational age” rather than calculation from the last menstrual period. The bill keeps the existing 20-week threshold or 350-gram weight standard but changes how gestational age is assessed for reporting purposes. It does not alter criminal law, abortion policy, or standards of medical care, but instead adjusts how fetal deaths are defined within the state’s vital records system. The measure includes a temporary structure in which one section expires in 2027 and another takes effect at that time, creating a transition in statutory language.
Supporters argue the change aligns reporting with modern medical practice, where ultrasound and clinical assessment often provide more accurate gestational dating than last menstrual period calculations. However, altering statutory definitions tied to fetal death, even within the vital statistics code, risks injecting ambiguity into a sensitive and highly charged area of law. Moving away from a clear, objective dating method to a “best clinically accurate” standard may create inconsistencies across providers and institutions. Because vital statistics definitions can influence public data, reporting practices, and future legislative interpretation, even technical changes deserve careful scrutiny. The temporary and staggered effective dates also create complexity in implementation that may confuse administrators and practitioners.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2178 is a courts-and-procedure cleanup bill requested by the Administrative Office of the Courts that aligns statutes with existing court rules, corrects technical issues, and updates implementation timelines. It updates the malicious mischief damage-aggregation threshold so that when multiple items are damaged as part of a common scheme, second-degree malicious mischief can be charged when total damage exceeds $750. The bill modernizes civil infraction procedures by extending the time to respond to a notice of infraction from 15 days to 30 days if personally served, or 33 days if mailed.
It also clarifies service language by updating outdated rule references and ensuring statutes track the court’s infraction rules. The measure changes the deadline for filing a notice of infraction with the court from 48 hours to five days (excluding weekends and holidays) and makes dismissal mandatory upon motion when that deadline is missed absent good cause. These changes collectively improve clarity, fairness, and administrative efficiency for courts and the public, especially for people navigating infractions and protection order filings without lawyers.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2180 strengthens child safety in youth athletics by formally defining “coach” and “youth sports organization” and bringing coaches squarely into Washington’s mandatory reporter framework for child abuse and neglect. It adds coaches of youth sports organizations to the list of professionals who must report suspected abuse or neglect within 48 hours when they have reasonable cause. To make that duty practical and consistent, the bill requires the Department of Children, Youth, and Families to develop (or contract for) a coach-specific mandatory reporter training by January 1, 2027, and to publish it in an accessible format.
Beginning July 1, 2027, every youth sports organization must require each coach to complete that training annually, creating a uniform baseline of knowledge across leagues and programs. The bill also tightens screening by requiring youth sports organizations to run Washington State Patrol (or equivalent federal) background checks before employing any coach. If the inquiry shows a conviction for a crime against children or other persons, the organization may not hire that coach, preventing known high-risk individuals from entering positions of authority over kids. The measure assigns the cost of the background check to the prospective coach, reducing financial burden on volunteer-driven organizations while still ensuring checks are done.
By aligning sports programs with the same child-protection expectations already placed on schools, child care, and other youth-serving settings, it closes a real-world gap where children spend substantial time with trusted adults outside the classroom. The combination of mandatory reporting, standardized training, and upfront background screening creates multiple layers of prevention and early detection rather than relying on luck or informal vigilance. For families who want youth sports to be safer without eliminating community-run leagues, House Bill 2180 is a common sense safeguard worth supporting.
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Environment & Disasters
Paying for response activities for the December 2025 significant atmospheric river and winter event.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2181 responds directly to the devastating December 2025 atmospheric river and winter storm that caused widespread flooding, landslides, erosion, and major transportation damage across Washington. The bill recognizes that the state received approximately $690 million above forecast in Climate Commitment Act auction revenues and proposes using that windfall to fund emergency response and infrastructure repair. It appropriates up to $690 million to the Department of Transportation from the multimodal transportation account to clean up, repair, restore, and replace damaged infrastructure. Specifically, it targets key corridors such as Interstate 90 and state routes 2, 167, and 410, along with other transportation facilities the secretary deems necessary to restore mobility.
The measure also amends existing statute to authorize transfers from the climate investment account to the multimodal transportation account during the 2025–2027 biennium. Importantly, it maintains labor standards and equity requirements for funded projects, ensuring family-wage jobs and strong worker protections during the rebuilding process. Rather than raising taxes or issuing new debt, the bill uses surplus climate auction revenues already collected to address urgent public safety and economic needs. By acting quickly through an emergency clause, it ensures that repairs can begin without delay, minimizing further disruption to families, businesses, and agricultural producers. Rebuilding damaged highways and infrastructure is essential not just for commuters, but for freight movement, emergency response, and the broader state economy.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2182 would significantly expand the role of the Department of Corrections by authorizing it to acquire, distribute, and dispense abortion pills not only within its custody but to the general public, a function far outside its core mission. This bill effectively turns a corrections agency into a statewide pharmaceutical distributor of abortion pills that not only murders pre-born babies but jeopardizes the life and health of women who take abortion pills: about 1 out of every 10 women suffers a severe consequence to her physical health. Furthermore, this bill raises serious concerns about mission creep, accountability, and administrative competence. By exempting the department from standard wholesaler licensing requirements, the bill weakens long-standing regulatory safeguards designed to ensure drug safety, oversight, and transparency.
The legislation also allows medications to be provided at or below cost, with little clarity on fiscal impacts, cost recovery, or long-term taxpayer exposure. Declaring this policy change an “emergency” bypasses normal legislative deliberation and limits public scrutiny on an issue that is ethically, medically, and politically complex. Existing health care providers and pharmacies already have lawful authority and infrastructure to dispense abortion pills, making this expansion duplicative rather than necessary. The bill blurs clear lines between “public health” functions and correctional administration, setting a troubling precedent for future policy decisions, as well as a profound lack of protection for pre-born babies. For these reasons, House Bill 2182 represents an overreach of government authority and should be rejected.
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Homelessness
Concerning the office of homeless youth prevention and protection programs advisory committee.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2185 updates the statute for the Office of Homeless Youth Prevention and Protection Programs specifically by revising the makeup and responsibilities of its advisory committee. The bill expands and rebalances membership on the advisory committee to include more direct voices from youth with lived experience of homelessness, tribal and rural representatives, service providers, and other community stakeholders. It also clarifies the committee’s role in advising on strategies, reviewing data, and coordinating efforts across agencies and community partners to prevent and reduce youth homelessness. It does not itself appropriate new funds or create new entitlement programs.
Homeless minors and young adults are at very high risk of abuse, trafficking, addiction, and exploitation; making the advisory body more representative and effective can help ensure existing resources are used wisely to protect the least of these. HB 2185 focuses on governance—who advises and how they guide policy—rather than on launching a large new spending program, which fits a conservative preference for better stewardship and coordination before more dollars. By bringing in people who actually work with or have lived through youth homelessness, the committee is better positioned to recommend practical, targeted solutions instead of one‑size‑fits‑all social engineering from Olympia.
Importantly, the bill’s text and bill reports are about advisory‑committee composition, duties, and coordination on housing and services; it does not embed controversial sex‑ed, gender‑identity, or anti‑parent provisions. This bill focuses on protecting at‑risk young people and improving how existing programs are guided and evaluated, which is good stewardship and consistent with our call to care for vulnerable children. HB 2185 is a targeted governance fix: it improves the advisory committee for the Office of Homeless Youth so state efforts are better informed by real‑world experience, not ideology.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2186 strengthens Washington’s ability to win federal economic development dollars by pairing better grant “intelligence” with a targeted state matching-funds program. It requires the Department of Commerce to maintain a more robust inventory of opportunities by regularly reviewing the federal register, tracking private foundation and business opportunities, and consulting with federal officials and other partners. The bill creates a process for applicants to quickly obtain a state letter of support identifying the availability of matching funds within five business days, which can materially improve the competitiveness of federal applications. It also directs Commerce each biennium to convene key stakeholders—ports, workforce boards, local governments, and others—to identify likely federal opportunities and prioritize those with the greatest economic impact.
Subject to available funds, Commerce must adopt scoring criteria that emphasize jobs, households and businesses impacted, the size of potential federal awards, alignment with state priorities, and a specific preference for rural and frontier counties. Guardrails ensure matching funds are used only when applicants cannot access other state match sources, projects produce long-term benefits, continuing state support is not required, and awards do not supplant private investment. The bill sets sensible award limits, including up to 100 percent match for many public, nonprofit, and small business applicants, while generally limiting investor-owned utilities and other applicants to 50 percent (with increased allowances for distressed areas).
The bill creates the “Moving Assets to Create Healthy Economic Development Account,” explicitly allowing the state to pool appropriations, transfers, and private donations to meet match needs quickly and strategically. It also expands transparency and performance management by requiring recipients to report on match amounts, federal dollars secured, jobs created or maintained, and revenue generated. Finally, it commissions the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to study the gap between federal opportunities and what the state currently tracks, ensuring the program is data-driven and improvable, so support a practical way to bring more outside dollars home while prioritizing high-impact projects across Washington.
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Taxes & Financial
Supporting employers providing child care assistance to employees by establishing a business and occupation and public utility tax credit.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2187 is a tax cut. It creates a five-year pilot program establishing a business and occupation and public utility tax credit to encourage employers to help cover child care costs for their employees. Beginning January 1, 2027, eligible employers may claim a credit equal to 50 percent of the amount they pay to registered child care providers for employees’ dependents. For the first two years, eligibility is focused on small employers with fewer than 100 full-time equivalent employees and those participating in a child care consortium, ensuring that smaller businesses get priority access.
Starting in 2029, the credit expands to any qualifying employer, broadening its reach while maintaining clear guardrails. The credit is capped at $50,000 per employer per year, with a statewide annual cap of $5 million, protecting the state budget from open-ended liability. Employers can pool resources through local chambers of commerce or economic development groups to form consortiums that purchase child care slots collectively, making participation more realistic for small businesses. The credit cannot exceed taxes owed and includes carry-forward limits, electronic filing requirements, and performance review provisions to ensure accountability.
The program expires in 2032 unless data show it is successfully increasing employer-supported child care slots, tying continuation to measurable results. By directly reducing the cost for employers who step up to support working families, the bill addresses one of the most significant barriers to workforce participation: access to affordable child care. For anyone concerned about labor shortages, small business competitiveness, and helping parents stay employed, House Bill 2187 offers a targeted, fiscally responsible solution that deserves support.
Bill Summary
HB 2188 requires the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) to publish the actuarially indicated rate for each risk class, alongside the proposed premium rates for the coming year. When L&I limits rate increases below actuarially indicated levels, the department must disclose which classes are limited and by how much, and how that affects other classes.
Repeated use of contingency reserves to hold down premium increases (e.g., an 8.1% reduction from “break-even,” depleting reserves by about $240 million) is not sustainable and obscures the true cost of the system. Without clear disclosure of actuarial rates, reserve use, and cross‑subsidies between risk classes, employers, workers, and legislators cannot accurately judge the health or fairness of the workers’ compensation program. The intent of HB 2188 is to ensure open and transparent governance so shortcomings can be identified and reforms adopted in time, instead of allowing hidden problems to compound. L&I must publish, for each class where the director caps an increase below actuarial indication: the limited class and its proposed rate; what the rate would have been under generally accepted actuarial principles without the cap; and the premium increase shifted to other risk classes because of that limitation. This information must appear on L&I’s website and be submitted to the Legislature and the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Committee.
By exposing repeated reliance on reserves and rate‑capping, HB 2188 pushes policymakers to address structural cost drivers rather than masking them. Clear actuarial and policy information helps avoid sudden future spikes in premiums that could harm employers, jobs, and ultimately workers’ benefit security. In addition, publishing actuarially indicated rates and the effects of political or policy limits makes L&I’s decisions reviewable by the public and Legislature in real time. Finally, Legislators and stakeholders gain detailed, annual data on how rates are being adjusted and which industries bear additional burden, informing targeted reforms instead of blanket changes.
Bill Summary
House Bill 2189 expands eligibility for voluntary workers’ compensation claim resolution settlements by removing the current requirement that an injured worker be at least 50 years old before entering into such an agreement. The bill recognizes that many injured workers—especially those in the state fund system—are significantly younger and should have the same flexibility already available in most other states. It allows injured workers to choose between continuing benefits, pursuing vocational training, or negotiating a settlement for all non-medical benefits once certain timelines and conditions are met.
Any settlement must be approved by the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, with an industrial appeals judge required to ensure the agreement is in the worker’s best interest. The judge must consider factors such as the worker’s age, life expectancy, injury severity, and the impact on other benefits before approving the agreement. Workers who are unrepresented receive additional protections, including a required conference to confirm they understand the consequences of settling.
The bill preserves medical benefits, allows structured or lump-sum payments within defined limits, and includes a 30-day revocation window to protect against rushed decisions. It also prohibits harassment or coercion during negotiations and authorizes penalties for noncompliance, adding meaningful accountability. By modernizing the system and aligning Washington with the majority of other states, the legislation gives injured workers greater autonomy to resolve claims in a way that fits their financial and personal circumstances. House Bill 2189 deserves support because it balances flexibility with safeguards, empowering workers while maintaining strong oversight and fairness in the workers’ compensation system.