AN ACT Relating to communicable or contagious diseases or disorders; reenacting and amending RCW 49.60.040; adding a new section to chapter 28A.02 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 48.30 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 48.44 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 48.46 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 49.60 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 49.74 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 70.84 RCW; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.

Sec. 2. Section 3, chapter 183, Laws of 1949 as last amended by section 2, chapter 185, Laws of 1985 and by section 2, chapter 203, Laws of 1985 and RCW 49.60.040 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

As used in this chapter:

"Person" includes one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, organizations, corporations, cooperatives, legal representatives, trustees and receivers, or any group of persons; it includes any owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, agent, or employee, whether one or more natural persons; and further includes any political or civil subdivisions of the state and any agency or instrumentality of the state or of any political or civil subdivision thereof;

"Commission" means the Washington state human rights commission;

"Employer" includes any person acting in the interest of an employer, directly or indirectly, who employs eight or more persons, and does not include any religious or sectarian organization not organized for private profit;

"Employee" does not include any individual employed by his or her parents, spouse, or child, or in the domestic service of any person;

"Labor organization" includes any organization which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances or terms or conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in connection with employment;

"Employment agency" includes any person undertaking with or without compensation to recruit, procure, refer, or place employees for an employer;

"National origin" includes "ancestry";

"Full enjoyment of" includes the right to purchase any service, commodity, or article of personal property offered or sold on, or by, any establishment to the public, and the admission of any person to accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges of any place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, or amusement, without acts directly or indirectly causing persons of any particular race, creed, color, sex, or with any sensory, mental, or physical handicap, or a blind or deaf person using a trained dog guide, to be treated as not welcome, accepted, desired, or solicited;

"Any place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, or amusement" includes, but is not limited to, any place, licensed or unlicensed, kept for gain, hire, or reward, or where charges are made for admission, service, occupancy, or use of any property or facilities, whether conducted for the entertainment, housing, or lodging of transient guests, or for the benefit, use, or accommodation of those seeking health, recreation, or rest, or for the burial or other disposition of human remains, or for the sale of goods, merchandise, services, or personal property, or for the rendering of personal services, or for public conveyance or transportation on land, water, or in the air, including the stations and terminals thereof and the garaging of vehicles, or where food or beverages of any kind are sold for consumption on the premises, or where public amusement, entertainment, sports, or recreation of any kind is offered with or without charge, or where medical service or care is made available, or where the public gathers, congregates, or assembles for amusement, recreation, or public purposes, or public halls, public elevators, and public washrooms of buildings and structures occupied by two or more tenants, or by the owner and one or more tenants, or any public library or educational institution, or schools of special instruction, or nursery schools, or day care centers or children's camps: PROVIDED, That nothing contained in this definition shall be construed to include or apply to any institute, bona fide club, or place of accommodation, which is by its nature distinctly private, including fraternal organizations, though where public use is permitted that use shall be covered by this chapter; nor shall anything contained in this definition apply to any educational facility, columbarium, crematory, mausoleum, or cemetery operated or maintained by a bona fide religious or sectarian institution;

"Real property" includes buildings, structures, real estate, lands, tenements, leaseholds, interests in real estate cooperatives, condominiums, and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal, or any interest therein;

"Real estate transaction" includes the sale, exchange, purchase, rental, or lease of real property;

"Sex" means gender.

"Credit transaction" includes any open or closed end credit transaction, whether in the nature of a loan, retail installment transaction, credit card issue or charge, or otherwise, and whether for personal or for business purposes, in which a service, finance, or interest charge is imposed, or which provides for repayment in scheduled payments, when such credit is extended in the regular course of any trade or commerce, including but not limited to transactions by banks, savings and loan associations or other financial lending institutions of whatever nature, stock brokers, or by a merchant or mercantile establishment which as part of its ordinary business permits or provides that payment for purchases of property or service therefrom may be deferred.

"Communicable or contagious disease or disorder" means any illness, infection, infestation, or sickness which arises from, or is propagated through, the transmission of any virus, microbe, bacterium, fungus, parasite, insect, or other pathogen, from an infested or contaminated source, whether human, animal, inanimate thing, or place, either directly or indirectly, to any person. A communicable or contagious disease or disorder includes, but is not limited to, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), any sexually transmitted disease, and any disease specifically named in chapters 248-100 and 248-101 WAC.

"Political entity" means any state or local government including but not limited to, their political and civil subdivisions, agencies, instrumentalities, and employees.

"Sensory, mental, or physical handicap" means a sensory, mental, or physical handicap that is medically cognizable or diagnosable, or that exists as a record or history, and that is perceived to exist by persons other than the person who has a sensory, mental, or physical handicap, and that, in fact, does exist.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 28A.02 RCW to read as follows:

The presence of a communicable or contagious disease or disorder shall not be considered as the presence of a sensory, mental, or physical handicap for purposes of this chapter. The terms communicable or contagious disease or disorder and sensory, mental, or physical handicap shall be defined as those terms are defined in RCW 49.60.040.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 48.30 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 48.44 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 48.46 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. A new section is added to chapter 49.74 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 70.84 RCW to read as follows:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. A new section is added to chapter 49.60 RCW to read as follows:

The presence of a communicable or contagious disease or disorder shall not be considered as the presence of a sensory, mental, or physical handicap for purposes of this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. A new section is added to chapter 49.60 RCW to read as follows:

A person having a communicable or contagious disease or disorder, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, or the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical handicap, has no right to be free from discrimination based on the presence of the disease. A political entity shall not declare or recognize any person to be free from discrimination because of the presence of a communicable or contagious disease or disorder.