Essential information on each bill is below. For more details, click on the bill number – e.g., “SB 5000.” The new page will show the progress of the bill, videos of debate, and the link to send a comment to your legislator about the bill.
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Health Care
Establishing network adequacy standards for skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation hospitals.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5124 aims to enhance patient access to timely and medically necessary post-acute care. This legislation will establish network adequacy standards for skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation hospitals – within managed care contracts – for medical assistance programs in Washington. The bill mandates the authority to develop and adopt these standards by January 1, 2027. The standards will consider factors such as provider availability, timeliness of care, and compliance with federal Medicaid regulations, while also ensuring that care remains local to the enrollee’s community. Stakeholder feedback will be solicited throughout the development process, involving hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, managed care organizations, and other relevant associations.
Additionally, the bill requires that managed care organization contracts or amendments effective on or after July 1, 2027, must meet the established network adequacy requirements for post-acute care services. This includes skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation hospitals, as well as any other necessary post-acute care services determined by the authority. The adequacy requirements will be integrated into existing monitoring and reporting obligations to ensure compliance and improve access to a full continuum of care for Medicaid enrollees. “Patients who need post-acute care should not face unnecessary delays or barriers,” said Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor. “This bill ensures that Medicaid enrollees can access rehabilitation and skilled nursing care without excessive wait times, helping them recover faster and more effectively.”
Bill Summary
This bill was introduced last Session (SB 6216) and returns again. This bill aims to establish a comprehensive statewide network for student mental and behavioral health in Washington. The primary issue is parents in Washington do not have access to their student’s mental health or medical records in schools. The legislation intends to enhance coordination among the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), local education agencies, and other relevant state agencies to create a more integrated approach to mental health support in schools. What does this mean? They can link students to legal services and alternative medical interventions without a parent’s knowledge.
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Housing
Ensuring compliance with the housing element requirements of the Growth Management Act.
Bill Summary
The bill seeks to improve compliance with housing element requirements under Washington State’s Growth Management Act by mandating that counties and cities planning under a specific RCW submit their housing elements and related development regulations to the Department for review at least 120 days prior to seeking approval. The Department will evaluate compliance with various laws and regulations, and the bill outlines the application components, decision timelines, and notification processes regarding compliance status. It also establishes a publicly available compliance list for jurisdictions. Additionally, noncompliant cities or counties are restricted from denying or imposing conditions on affordable or moderate-income housing developments unless specific criteria are met, and developers must include legally binding affordability measures for a minimum of 25 years.
The bill further amends existing laws to streamline the compliance and review processes for comprehensive plans and development regulations, requiring petitions related to compliance to be submitted within sixty days of publication. It clarifies responsibilities for local governments in reviewing and revising their plans, allows smaller cities to opt out of full reviews under certain conditions, and mandates public participation programs for plan updates. The bill also addresses the management of critical areas in watersheds, stipulating that counties are not required to update regulations if benchmarks are met, while introducing requirements for progress reports on comprehensive plan implementation. It includes provisions to exempt certain actions from appeals, prioritizes public works projects for financial assistance, and establishes the act as the “housing accountability act” with a severability clause.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5162 is another example of government overreach – particularly in the health care arena. This bill aims to enhance workplace violence prevention in health care settings by amending existing regulations and introducing new requirements. It mandates that each health care setting develop and implement a workplace violence prevention plan, which must be updated at least once a year. The plan should address various factors contributing to workplace violence, including security measures, staffing patterns, job design, and employee training. Additionally, health care settings with established safety or workplace violence committees are required to involve these committees in the development and monitoring of the prevention plan.
Furthermore, the bill introduces a new section that requires health care settings to conduct timely investigations of workplace violence incidents. These investigations must assess the contributing factors of each incident and include a detailed report submitted to the relevant committee. The report should analyze systemic causes of violence and provide recommendations for modifying prevention strategies. The frequency of these reports varies based on the type of health care setting, with some required to submit summaries twice a year and others quarterly. The act is set to take effect on January 1, 2026.
The vast majority of health care entities in Washington State are not government facilities; therefore, they should not be mandated by state government to follow through on this “order”. Furthermore, why the focus on health care entities? If the government is going force this on healthcare entities, it should be required of every business. Can you imagine how well that would go over? Democrats need to stay out of the health care realm altogether. They can’t even manage government well.
Bill Summary
SB 5163 is a step forward in protecting children and holding systems accountable when tragedies occur. This bill modernizes the state’s approach to reviewing child deaths by renaming “child mortality reviews” to “child fatality reviews” and expanding the scope to include children up to age 19, recognizing that vulnerable youth do not stop facing risks at 18. It empowers local health departments to obtain a fuller picture of the circumstances surrounding a child’s death by requiring access to vital records—from medical to law enforcement to social services. This broader access ensures more thorough reviews and helps identify systemic gaps or failures.
Importantly, SB 5163 allows witness statements and documents collected during these reviews to be used in criminal proceedings, making it more likely that justice can be served in cases of abuse, neglect, or preventable death. At the same time, the bill preserves confidentiality and protects identifying information, balancing accountability with privacy. It removes unnecessary funding restrictions and allows the Department of Health to provide stronger, ongoing support to local departments for these reviews. By expanding the data that can be collected, identifying trends over time, and encouraging quality improvement, this bill will help prevent future deaths. It ensures that preventable factors do not go unnoticed and unaddressed.