Legislative Updates

HB: Concerning the audiology and speech-language pathology interstate compact.

HB: Extends the public utility tax (PUT) and business and occupation (B&O) tax credits for hiring veterans to July 1, 2034. • Increases the maximum PUT and B&O tax credit an employer may claim for hiring a qualified employee to $3,000 per employee. • Increases the maximum total credit to $5 million per year for each the PUT and B&O tax credit. • Expands eligibility for the PUT and B&O tax credits by removing the unemployment requirement for veterans and including the spouse of a veteran or an active-duty military member as a qualified employee.

HB: Expands the definition of veteran for purposes of veterans' benefits in state pension systems, legal assistance, scoring criteria on civil service exams, and other programs, to include members that were awarded an expeditionary medal.

SHB: Establishes requirements for certain state agencies and licensing authorities related to the professional licensing and employment of military spouses. • Allows a military spouse to terminate an employment contract without penalty after his or her service member spouse receives orders for a permanent change of station.

HB: Permits counties to collect the Veterans' Assistance levy and the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities levy as separate levies, outside of the county's general levy rate.

HB: Enacts the Counseling Compact.

HB: Establishes an endorsement for mobile rapid response crisis teams that meet staffing, vehicle, and response time standards, as well as a grant program to support them. • Directs the University of Washington to establish a crisis training and secondary trauma program to develop a training strategy for personnel in the behavioral health crisis system and to provide training support to regional behavioral health entities. • Directs the Department of Health to develop informational materials and a social media campaign to promote the 988 crisis hotline and related crisis lines. • Establishes liability protection for several entities and personnel for activities related to the dispatching decisions of 988 crisis hotline staff and the transfer of calls between the 911 line and the 988 crisis hotline. • Extends several dates related to reporting, designated 988 crisis contact center hubs, and funding the new crisis call center system platform.

(No Fiscal Impact) Moves the director of nursing services position at each state veterans' home from WMS to EMS, which is exempt from civil service provisions. • Provides certain limited instances in which the Washington Department of Veterans' Affairs may disclose a veteran's discharge papers. • Repeals statutory references to the Soldiers' Home Colony, fundraising for the eastern Washington veterans' home, and a requirement to provide domiciliary and medical care.

HB: Establishes the Purple Star Award (award) to recognize military-friendly school districts that show a commitment to students and families connected to the nation's military. • Establishes related administrative duties for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), including authorizing the OSPI to collaborate with a qualifying entity in administering the award, and requiring the OSPI to include an award application on its website.

Updating property tax exemptions for service-connected disabled veterans and senior citizens.

HB: Removes the requirement that a Washington veteran have a serviceconnected disability of at least 30 percent in order to be entitled to free use of campsites within state parks, free admission to state parks, and exemption from reservation fees.

Concerning the multistate nurse licensure compact.

HB: Concerning the interstate massage compact.

Protecting senior citizens' and disabled veterans' property tax exemption eligibility. (COLAs)

Authorizing military surplus vehicles to operate on public highways.

Providing property tax relief by expanding eligibility for the senior citizen and disabled veterans' property tax exemption program.

HB: Provides that spirits taxes do not apply to sales of spirits purchased on a military base by a Washington veterans' service organization for use as a fundraising prize for a veterans' service organization fundraising event. • Defines "veterans' service organization" as specified types of nonprofit organizations and corporations.

Creating a homes for heroes program.

Providing a spirits tax exemption on spirits purchased for veterans' service organizations' fund-raising.

Imposing local property tax levies wholly credited against the state property tax to provide support and services for veterans' assistance and for persons with developmental disabilities or mental health needs.

Concerning the audiology and speech-language pathology interstate compact.

SSB: Creates the Purple Star Designation to recognize school districts that demonstrate educational and social-emotional supports to students of military service members as they face transitions to a new school.

SB: Adopts the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (Compact) and its provisions. • Limits license reciprocity to those determined to be eligible by each member state of the Compact. • Directs states under the Compact to submit a list of eligible licenses that the state will grant to licensees coming from other Compact member states. • Requires member states to grant an equivalent license to active military members and military spouses who hold an eligible teaching license. • Specifies that member states have discretion in relation to recertification requirements. • Creates the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact Commission with certain administrative requirements. • Establishes that the Compact will come into effect on the date on which the Compact is enacted into law in the 10th member state.

SB: Enacts the Counseling Compact in Washington State. Increases education requirements for licensed mental health counselors by requiring applicants for licensure with degrees awarded after the effective date of this Act to hold a master's degree which includes 60 semester-hours, or 90 quarter-hours of coursework in counseling or related subjects.

Concerning the senior and disabled veterans property tax exemption.

SB: Directs the Department of Health (DOH) to administer a regulatory system for supported adult-use of psilocybin, beginning January 1, 2024. • Directs DOH to create standards for manufacturing, testing, packaging, and labeling psilocybin products with the assistance of a Psilocybin Advisory Board and other state agencies. • Allows a person over the age of 21 to purchase psilocybin products in a psilocybin service center and undergo a preparation session, administration session, and integration session under the supervision of a trained and qualified facilitator. • Restricts employment in the psilocybin industry to certain licensed or permitted individuals over the age of 21.

SB: Expands the definition of "period of war" for veterans' benefits in state pension systems, legal assistance, scoring criteria on civil service exams, and other programs, to include any armed conflicts where an expeditionary medal was awarded.

WDVA FN: SB: Moves the director of nursing services position at each state veterans' home from WMS to EMS, which is exempt from civil service provisions. • Provides certain limited instances in which the Washington Department of Veterans' Affairs may disclose a veteran's discharge papers. • Repeals statutory references to the Soldiers' Home Colony, fundraising for the eastern Washington veterans' home, and a requirement to provide domiciliary and medical care.

WDVA FN: SB: Requires the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs to submit reports to the Legislature to determine the effectiveness of the veterans service officer program, and the veteran peer-to-peer training and support program in meeting veterans' needs. • States legislative intent to double appropriations for the programs, prioritizing smaller counties and counties with below-average rates of veterans receiving federal benefits.

Concerning the multistate nurse licensure compac

Permitting military exercises on state park property

HB: Permits specified individuals who separate from service from positions covered by the Public Employees', School Employees', and Teachers' Retirement System Plans 2, but do not retire, the opportunity to participate in the retiree benefits of the Public Employees' Benefits Board. • Limits participation to individuals who separate from service on or after January 1, 2024, and who are at least age 55 with 20 years of service in the included state pension plans.

Repealing the long-term services and supports trust program.

SHB: Changes the postretirement employment restrictions on benefits eligibility for Public Employees' Retirement System, Teachers Retirement System, and School Employees Retirement System Plans 2 and 3 members that retired under the 2008 Early Retirement Factors (ERFs). • Permits 2008 ERF members to work in retirement system–covered employment for up to 867 hours per year without suspension of retirement benefits. • Adjusts benefits for individuals that chose the 3 percent per year early retirement reduction to the level of reduction in the 2008 ERFs for future benefit payments

HB: Mandates any public agency that is required to provide notice that it is soliciting written public comment to include in the notice the last day by which such public comment may be submitted. • Subjects each person who is responsible for providing a required notice that an agency is soliciting written public comment to a civil penalty of $500 for the first violation and $1000 for any subsequent violation if the notice does not specify the last date by which such public comment may be submitted.

WDVA FN: SHB: Grants Washington Management Service (WMS) employees the right to collective bargaining, except for WMS employees in positions with salary bands three, four, and medical, and other specified WMS managers. • • Provides that bargaining over wages is limited to salary band levels. Provides that collective bargaining agreements with WMS employees may not take effect before July 1, 2025.

HB: Requires employers to reimburse employees for all necessary expenditures and losses incurred in direct consequence of their duties.

HB: Expands the Stay at Work Program by allowing employers to offer offsite light duty work with third party nonprofit organizations approved by the Department of Labor and Industries.

Incorporating working families fiscal impacts in fiscal notes.

HB: Creates an exception from examination and disclosure for a union representative and a union employee concerning any communication between the union representative or union employee made during union representation. • Applies the exception from examination and disclosure to employees of, and the organizations that represent: employees of college districts, public employees, faculty at public four-year institutions of higher education, civil service employees, ferry employees, port employees, and labor unions.

HB: Requires certain public employers to provide exclusive bargaining representatives information, such as contact information, date of hire, salary, and jobsite location, of employees in bargaining units if the employer has that information in its records. • Allows an exclusive bargaining representative to bring a court action if a public employer fails to comply with the requirement to provide information.

Requiring environmental and labor reporting for public building construction and renovation material.

WDVA FN: HB Modifies small works roster requirements to address equity and efficiencies in public works procurement. • Updates and revises the small and limited works roster process to increase administrative efficiency. • Requires the Office of Minority and Women's Business Enterprises to adopt rules governing a public works small business certification plan. • Removes the requirement for the Department of Enterprise Services to survey and which states provide a bidding preference on public works contracts for their resident contractors. • Requires the Capital Projects Advisory Review Board (CPARB) to review construction cost escalation data for Washington State. • Requires CPARB to make recommendations to the appropriate committees of the Legislature on adjustments to existing contracting thresholds.

Concerning access to personnel records. (See SB 5061)

Modeling, measurement, and reporting embodied carbon emission reductions from structural building products in state-funded projects.

Updating statutes related to state employment by removing obsolete language, eliminating unnecessary reports, conforming a reporting period to fiscal year, and modernizing employee pay procedures.

WDVA FN: Improving government efficiency related to reports by state agencies by eliminating reports, changing the frequency of reports, and providing an alternative method for having information publicly available in place of reports.

Providing the payment of awards to whistleblowers who report violations of state or federal securities laws and providing protection to whistleblowers and internal reporters.

Requiring state agencies to share information to encourage economic development.

HB: Requires the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to establish a child care worker pilot program to establish or expand student instruction in early childhood development. • Requires the OSPI to work with qualifying schools to develop model materials that can be used by other districts with an interest in establishing or expanding early childhood development instructional offerings to students. • Requires the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to develop a model program manual for a program to assist middle and high school aged youth who routinely care for younger relatives or other children. • Requires the DCYF to develop detailed recommendations to utilize funds to expand the substitute pool for child care and early learning providers and provide additional career coaching to substitute providers. • Requires the DCYF to administer a grant program to provide grants to one or more organizations that focus on working with child care workers to establish new affordable, high quality child care and early learning programs.

Requiring the state to provide transportation to state employees when certain conditions are met.

WDVA FN: Concerning the protection of critical constituent and state operational data against the financial and personal harm caused by ransomware and other malicious cyber activities.

Modifying state procurement procedures for competitive, sole source, convenience, and emergency goods and services contracts.

Exempting the disclosure of certain information of agency employees or their dependents who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, or stalking.

Concerning vacation leave accrual for state employees

Concerning the credentialing of certified health care professionals providing longterm care services.

Concerning nursing facility rates.

Creating the profession of certified peer specialists

Concerning industrial insurance coverage for posttraumatic stress disorders affecting registered nurses.

Creating the "parks Rx" health and wellness pilot programs.

SB: Requires an employer to furnish an employee with a complete, unredacted copy of their personnel file at no cost within 14 days of a request. • Mandates an employer to furnish a former employee with a signed written statement with the effective date of discharge, whether the employer had a reason for the discharge, and if so, the reasons, within 14 days of the written request. • Allows an employee to bring a private action for violations of certain rights regarding personnel files and discharge information and entitles the employee to equitable relief, graduated statutory damages up to $1,000, and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs of each violation.

SB: Directs the Department of Health and an advisory committee to establish at least three, two-year long parks Rx health and wellness pilot programs in Puget Sound, Eastern Washington, and Southwest Washington.

Providing protections for Washington residents who decline COVID-19 vaccinations or who were terminated for refusing vaccination.

Granting Washington management service employees the right to collectively bargain.

SB: Requires state contracts for public works, and goods and services to contain nondiscrimination clauses.

Concerning the state's ability to regulate certain industries and risk classes to prevent musculoskeletal injuries and disorders.

WDVA FN: SSB Modifies small works roster requirements to address equity and efficiencies in public works procurement. • Updates and revises the small and limited works roster process to increase administrative efficiency. • Requires the Office of Minority and Women's Business Enterprises to adopt rules governing a public works small business certification plan. • Removes the requirement for the Department of Enterprise Services to survey and which states provide a bidding preference on public works contracts for their resident contractors. • Requires the Capital Projects Advisory Review Board (CPARB) to review construction cost escalation data for Washington State. • Requires CPARB to make recommendations to the appropriate committees of the Legislature on adjustments to existing contracting thresholds.

SB: Requires certain public employers to provide exclusive bargaining representatives information, such as contact information, date of hire, salary, and jobsite location, of employees in bargaining units if the employer has that information in its records. • Allows an exclusive bargaining representative to bring a court action if a public employer fails to comply with the requirement to provide information.

SSB: Amends the premium rate calculation in the Paid Family and Medical Leave Program (PFML) to be based on a specified formula rather than the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Account (Account) balance ratio on September 30th of the previous year. • Sets a maximum rate of 1.2 percent and removes the Employment Security Department's authority to assess a solvency surcharge if the Account balance ratio falls below a certain threshold. • Removes expired and outdated language in the PFML premium provisions.

SB: Permits certain retirees of the state's retirement systems that took a specific early retirement option to work in a retirement system-covered position prior to reaching age 65, for up to 867 hours per year without a suspension of their retirement benefits.

WDVA FN: Establishing guidelines for government procurement and use of automated decision systems in order to protect consumers, improve transparency, and create more market predictability. Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY & TECHNOLOGY.

SB: Permits specified individuals who separate from service from positions covered by the Public Employees', School Employees', and Teachers' Retirement System Plans 2, but do not retire, the opportunity to participate in the retiree benefits of the Public Employees' Benefits Board. • Limits participation to individuals who separate from service on or after January 1, 2024, and who are at least age 55 with 20 years of service in the included state pension plans.

Modifying state procurement procedures for competitive, sole source, convenience, and emergency goods and services contracts

Concerning industrial insurance coverage for posttraumatic stress disorders affecting registered nurses.

Providing incentives to employers to hire certain hard-to-place job seekers.

Repealing the long-term services and supports trust program.

Concerning public employee reimbursement for child and adult dependent care expenses.  Allows for payment for or reimbursement for reasonable and necessary travel and subsistence expenses, including child care or adult dependent care expenses, for elected and appointed officials and state employees while engaged on official business away from their designated posts of duty.

WDVA FN: Concerning the protection of critical constituent and state operational data against the financial and personal harm caused by ransomware and other malicious cyber activities.

Concerning postretirement employment in nursing positions for a state agency.  (From the bill:  (b) Between the effective date of this section and July 1, 2026, a retiree who has satisfied the break in employment requirement of subsection (1) of this section, and who enters service in a nursing position for a state agency, shall continue to receive pension payments while engaged in such service, until the retiree has rendered service for more than 1,040 hours in a calendar year.)

SB: Establishes the new professions of certified peer specialist and certified peer specialist trainee to be certified by the Department of Health. • Specifies training and educational pathways and requirements to earn a certificate to engage in the practice of peer support services. • Directs the Health Care Authority to develop the trainings and examinations required to become certified. • Establishes training requirements for certified peer specialists practicing as peer crisis responders.

Limiting frivolous claims by modifying administrative and judicial review processes for public records request responses.

WDVA FN: SB: Requires the state board for community and technical colleges to develop a plan to increase credential opportunities in nursing. • Creates nursing education opportunities at community and technical colleges and within the Department of Veterans Affairs. • Modifies program approval and training requirements under the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission. • Creates the High School Student Certified Nursing Assistant Pilot Program. • Modifies the basic education funding formula to reduce class sizes in skills centers.

Concerning employees' paid family or medical leave data

Concerning public employee retirees

Establishing African heritage week.