Concerning public schools that are not common schools.

Addresses: (1) Charter public schools;

(2) Educational programs not in common schools; and

(3) Funding from the Washington opportunity pathways account.

Addressing volunteer firefighters and reserve officers assisting with multiregional state emergencies.

Reducing public health threats that particularly impact highly exposed populations, including children and firefighters, by establishing a process for the department of health to restrict the use of toxic flame retardant chemicals in certain types of consumer products.

Prohibits a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer from manufacturing, selling, or distributing for sale or for use in this state children's products or residential upholstered furniture containing any of the following flame retardants in amounts greater than one thousand parts per million in any product component: (1) TDCPP;

(2) TCEP;

(3) Decabromodiphenyl ether;

(4) HBCD; or

Increasing the notice of termination for tenancies under the residential landlord-tenant act.

Enacting the equal pay opportunity act by amending and enhancing enforcement of the equal pay act and protecting worker communications about wages and employment opportunities.

Establishes the equal pay opportunity act.

Updates the existing state equal pay act to: (1) Address income disparities, employer discrimination, and retaliation practices; and

Concerning human rights commission rules on gender segregated facilities.

Requires the human rights commission to repeal WAC 162-32-060 (gender-segregated facilities).

Regulating providers of commercial transportation services.

Addresses commercial transportation services' providers.

Requires a commercial transportation services provider to comply with the requirements of this act, including those relating to a driver's compliance with insurance, qualification, conduct, nondiscrimination, maximum work hours, criminal history, and driving record requirements.

Prohibits a commercial transportation services provider from operating without first obtaining a permit from the department of licensing.

Clarifying the role of physician assistants in the delivery of mental health services.

Includes physician assistants with psychiatric supervision in the definition of "mental health professional" for purposes of chapter 71.05 RCW (mental health--involuntary treatment act).

Concerning survey requirements of ambulatory surgical facilities.

Addressing third-party administrators and benefits managers.

Creates a new chapter regarding third-party administrators.

Concerning filing fee surcharges for funding dispute resolution centers.

Allows a county legislative authority to: (1) Increase the surcharge on each civil filing fee in district court and the surcharge on each filing fee for small claims actions; and

Concerning enhanced raffles.

Concerning wildlife damage claim assessment costs.

Modifying certain voter approval requirements for fire protection district annexations.

Authorizing the termination of all legal responsibilities of a nonparent if genetic testing shows by clear and convincing evidence that a man is not the genetic father of a child.

Establishes the Brandon Jones act.

Establishing a pilot project to create and expand instructional worksite learning.

Establishes the creating and expanding instructional worksite learning pilot project to: (1) Expand traditional and nontraditional instructional worksite learning opportunities for students by incentivizing high growth advanced industry companies in the southwest Washington community to start or grow instructional worksite learning programs; and

(2) Fund the work of school worksite learning coordinators.

Providing a sales and use tax exemption for certain new building construction to be used by maintenance repair operators for airplane repair and maintenance.

Provides a sales and use tax exemption on charges for labor and services rendered in respect to the constructing of new buildings made to: (1) Eligible maintenance repair operators engaged in the maintenance of airplanes; or

Expanding the professional educator workforce by increasing career opportunities in education, creating a more robust enrollment forecasting, and enhancing recruitment efforts.

Increases career opportunities in education, creates a more robust enrollment forecasting, and enhances recruitment efforts.

Allows retired teachers to reenter the workforce without penalty of pension benefits, adequate student enrollment forecasting, additional funding for the alternative routes and educator retooling programs, and enhancements to recruitment.

Requires the office of the superintendent of public instruction, in consultation with school districts, educational service districts, and other state agencies, to develop and implement a comprehensive, statewide initiative to increase the number of qualified individuals who apply for teaching positions in the state.

Concerning the validity of administrative rules.

Updating workforce investment act references and making no substantive changes.

Reforming the school assessment system to focus on teaching and learning.

Authorizing peace officers to assist the department of corrections with the supervision of offenders.

Giving parents and guardians an unrestricted right to excuse their children from taking statewide assessments.

Modifying who is eligible for relocation assistance for tenants of closed or converted mobile home parks.

Concerning a leasehold excise tax credit for properties of market value in excess of ten million dollars.

Provides a leasehold excise tax credit, for a leasehold interest in real property owned by a state university, equal to the amount that the tax exceeds the property tax that would apply if the real property were privately owned by the taxpayer.

Modifying the crime of luring.

Establishing deadlines for final determinations and dispositions in agency adjudicative proceedings.

Revises administrative procedure act provisions as follows: (1) Requires an agency to make a final administrative determination or disposition for any matter that is subject to an adjudicative proceeding within two years after the commencement of the adjudicative proceeding;

(2) Authorizes a person to file a petition for judicial review and is presumed to have exhausted all administrative remedies when an agency fails to comply with (1) above;

(3) Authorizes the court to receive evidence in addition to that contained in the agency record for judicial review, if it relates to the validity of the agency action at the time it was taken and is needed to decide disputed issues regarding any issue or fact identified as contested in a petition for judicial review filed under (2) above; and

Concerning an alert program that allows residents to provide information to first responders pertaining to persons with developmental disabilities living at a registered address.

Requires the Washington state patrol to administer a program that allows a resident to register their address and provide information to first responders about a person with a developmental disability residing at the address.

Requires the information in this program to be accessible by local sheriffs, law enforcement, and first responders.

Concerning student services for students with disabilities.

Requires the student achievement council and the state board for community and technical colleges to draft and adopt a uniform disabilities application for determining a student's or prospective student's eligibility for disability services at any of the institutions of higher education.

Requires each institution of higher education to: (1) Adopt the uniform disabilities application before the start of the 2017-2018 academic year for use as the sole application for determining a student's eligibility for disability services at the institution; and

Permitting pharmacists to prescribe and dispense contraceptive patches and oral contraception.

Allows the prescription and dispensing of contraceptive patches and oral contraceptives by a pharmacist.

Authorizing the installation of auto mall directional signs on state highways.

Authorizes the department of transportation to erect and maintain auto mall directional signs on a state highway right-of-way if certain criteria are met.

Requiring that cursive writing be taught in common schools.

Requires a school district board of directors, when it reviews or adopts its English language arts curriculum, to incorporate curricula to teach cursive writing.

Concerning the regulation of alcoholic beverages.

Authorizes a domestic winery to apply to the state liquor and cannabis board for an endorsement to sell wine of its own production at retail for off-premises consumption at an event which holds a special occasion license.

Promoting transparency of prescription drug pricing and costs.

Concerning the payment of certain required costs of the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge.

Creates the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge sufficient minimum balance account.

Requires the state treasurer, beginning July 1, 2016, to transfer the amount reflecting the sufficient minimum balance for the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge from the connecting Washington account to the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge sufficient minimum balance account.

Requires any funds in the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge account, as of July 1, 2016, reflecting the sufficient minimum balance for the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge, to be used only to: (1) Mitigate future toll charges in accordance with a plan developed jointly by the transportation commission and the citizen advisory committee; and

Creating a pilot program allowing the use of a nationally recognized college readiness assessment to earn a certificate of academic achievement for high school graduation purposes and for federal and state accountability purposes.

Requires the superintendent of public instruction to: (1) If permitted by the elementary and secondary education act of 1965, as reauthorized by the every student succeeds act of 2015, implement a pilot program for school districts to pilot the administration of a nationally recognized college readiness assessment for high school students to use to earn a certificate of academic achievement for high school graduation purposes and to meet federal and state school accountability requirements;

(2) Enter into an agreement with a provider or providers of nationally recognized college readiness assessments for the provision and administration of the assessment for the purposes of the pilot program; and

(3) Solicit and select up to seven school districts to participate in the pilot program.

Requiring each institution of higher education to adopt a plan to increase voter registration and voting in elections.

Addressing political subdivisions purchasing health coverage through the public employees' benefits board program.

Reforming the school assessment system to focus on teaching and learning.

Concerning a business and occupation tax deduction for chemical dependency services provided by a health or social welfare organization.

Provides a business and occupation tax deduction to health or social welfare organizations for providing chemical dependency services.

Providing assistance to communities impacted by large employment losses.

Establishes the community opportunity program for employment act.

Requires state agencies, when distributing capital funds through competitive programs for environmental, community, cultural, infrastructure, and economic development projects, to consider whether the entity or project receiving the funds is located in an impacted area.

Provides a comparable preference to impacted workers as provided to veterans of the armed forces.

Encourages state agencies to award procurement contracts to businesses who hire impacted workers.

Requires the director of the department of enterprise services to: (1) Adopt rules to provide a preference for the award of state agency procurements to businesses that hire impacted workers; and

Establishing a joint select committee to investigate the creation of a Washington state council for the Pacific Northwest economic region.

Creates the legislative joint select committee on the creation of a Washington state council for the Pacific Northwest economic region.

Requires the joint select committee to: (1) Review the costs and benefits of creating a Washington state council for the Pacific Northwest economic region and investigate possible avenues to expand cross-border partnership on certain substantive issues; and

(2) Create and consult an advisory committee of stakeholders to assist in the development of recommendations.

Creating a business and occupation tax credit for capital costs associated with providing retail broadband service using qualified broadband equipment.

Establishing the Washington promise program, which provides for universal and affordable access to community and technical colleges for all Washingtonians.

Creates the Washington promise program to help make the first two years of college affordable and accessible to the state's citizens by offering a tuition waiver for eligible students enrolled in associate degree or certificate programs offered by the state's community and technical colleges.

Requires the office of student financial assistance to administer the program for resident students seeking an associate's degree or certificate from a community or technical college.

Authorizes the state board for community and technical colleges, as well as individual community and technical colleges, to provide retention and completion programs, including financial support, academic guidance, and services that assist students in developing successful habits, designed to help students earn a degree or credential.

Requires the state institute for public policy to conduct a study on the effectiveness of the program.

Concerning contractor bonds and mechanics' and materialmen's liens.

Concerning the Dan Thompson memorial developmental disabilities community trust account.

Protecting victims of sex crimes.

Requires the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs, when funded, to create and operate a statewide sexual assault kit tracking system.

Requires local law enforcement agencies, a sheriff and his or her deputies, the Washington state patrol, and certain hospitals to participate in the statewide sexual assault kit tracking system.

Requires the bureau of forensic laboratory services, in consultation with the state forensic investigations council, to develop budget submissions to the office of financial management sufficient to increase capacity to test all evidence submitted from crimes against persons by 2020 and all evidence submitted from property crimes by 2025.

Creates the Washington sexual assault kit program within the department of commerce for the purpose of accepting private funds for testing sexual assault kits and conducting related investigations.

Imposes a four-dollar fee on the admission to a sexually oriented live adult entertainment establishment.

Exempts the following from public inspection and copying under the public records act: Records and information contained within the statewide sexual assault kit tracking system.

Expediting education requirements for chemical dependency professional licensure when the candidate holds another professional license.

Requires the secretary of the department of health to develop expedited education requirements for obtaining a chemical dependency professional license that apply to a person who holds a license as a marriage and family therapist, mental health counselor, advanced social worker, independent clinical social worker, or a psychologist and seeks to become dually licensed as a chemical dependency professional.

-- 2016 REGULAR SESSION --
Jan 21	First reading, referred to Human Services, Mental Health & Housing.

by Senators Roach, Dammeier, O'Ban, and Warnick

Requesting Congress to reform the harbor maintenance tax.

Requesting that Congress expedite a bill that promotes more efficient border crossing.

Requests congress to expedite a bill that promotes more efficient border crossing.

-- 2016 REGULAR SESSION --
Jan 21	First reading, referred to Trade & Economic Development.

by Senators Ericksen, Benton, Padden, Sheldon, Rivers, Miloscia, and Angel

Requiring a two-thirds majority vote of the legislature to raise taxes, a simple majority vote to impose or raise fees, and no advisory vote.

Proposes an amendment to the state Constitution requiring a two-thirds majority vote of the legislature to raise taxes, a simple majority vote to impose or raise fees, and no advisory vote.

-- 2016 REGULAR SESSION --
Jan 21	First reading, referred to Government Operations & Security.