2026 Regular Session

ByRepresentatives Fosse, Davis, Parshley, Obras, Goodman, Pollet, and Scott

Read first time 01/22/26.Referred to Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards.

AN ACT Relating to collective bargaining for state employee job classifications; amending RCW 41.80.020; and reenacting and amending RCW 41.06.157.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 41.06.157 and 2024 c 330 s 11 and 2024 c 70 s 2 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

(1) To promote the most effective use of the state's workforce and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery of services to the citizens of the state, the director shall adopt and maintain a comprehensive classification plan for all positions in the classified service. The classification plan must:

(a) Be simple and streamlined;

(b) Support state agencies in responding to changing technologies, economic and social conditions, and the needs of its citizens;

(d) Facilitate the reorganization and decentralization of governmental services;

(e) Enhance mobility and career advancement opportunities;

(f) Consider rates in other public employment and private employment in the state;

(g) Not require a two-year or four-year college degree as the only way to demonstrate qualifications for the role unless that degree is required by law for an employee to perform the essential functions of a classification; and

(h) Recognize that persons legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law, including deferred action for childhood arrivals recipients, are eligible for employment unless prohibited by other state or federal law.

(2)(a) An appointing authority and an employee organization representing classified employees of the appointing authority for collective bargaining purposes may jointly request the director of financial management to initiate a classification study.

(b) Beginning January 1, 2028, the director may not adopt any classification plan unless the plan has been negotiated with the appropriate employee organization representing classified employees.

(3) For institutions of higher education and related boards, the director may adopt special salary ranges to be competitive with positions of a similar nature in the state or the locality in which the institution of higher education or related board is located.

(4) The director may undertake salary surveys of positions in other public and private employment to establish market rates. Any salary survey information collected from private employers which identifies a specific employer with salary rates which the employer pays to its employees shall not be subject to public disclosure under chapter 42.56 RCW.

Sec. 2. RCW 41.80.020 and 2021 c 13 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the matters subject to bargaining include wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, and the negotiation of any question arising under a collective bargaining agreement.

(2) The employer is not required to bargain over matters pertaining to:

(a) Health care benefits or other employee insurance benefits, except as required in subsection (3) of this section;

(b) Any retirement system or retirement benefit; or

(c) Rules of the director of financial management, the director of enterprise services, or the Washington personnel resources board adopted under RCW 41.06.157.

(3)(a) Matters subject to bargaining include the number of names to be certified for vacancies, promotional preferences, and the dollar amount expended on behalf of each employee for health care benefits. However, except as provided otherwise in this subsection for institutions of higher education, negotiations regarding the number of names to be certified for vacancies, promotional preferences, and the dollar amount expended on behalf of each employee for health care benefits shall be conducted between the employer and one coalition of all the exclusive bargaining representatives subject to this chapter. The exclusive bargaining representatives for employees that are subject to chapter 47.64 RCW shall bargain the dollar amount expended on behalf of each employee for health care benefits with the employer as part of the coalition under this subsection. Any such provision agreed to by the employer and the coalition shall be included in all master collective bargaining agreements negotiated by the parties. For institutions of higher education, promotional preferences and the number of names to be certified for vacancies shall be bargained under the provisions of RCW 41.80.010(4). For agreements covering the 2013-2015 fiscal biennium, any agreement between the employer and the coalition regarding the dollar amount expended on behalf of each employee for health care benefits is a separate agreement and shall not be included in the master collective bargaining agreements negotiated by the parties.

(b) Beginning January 1, 2028, matters subject to bargaining include the benchmark descriptions and job classifications that will be used by the office of financial management in conducting salary surveys. Negotiations must be conducted between the employer and one coalition of all bargaining representatives representing specific classifications.

(4) The employer and the exclusive bargaining representative shall not agree to any proposal that would prevent the implementation of approved affirmative action plans or that would be inconsistent with the comparable worth agreement that provided the basis for the salary changes implemented beginning with the 1983-1985 biennium to achieve comparable worth.

(5) The employer and the exclusive bargaining representative shall not bargain over matters pertaining to management rights established in RCW 41.80.040.

(6) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, if a conflict exists between an executive order, administrative rule, or agency policy relating to wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment and a collective bargaining agreement negotiated under this chapter, the collective bargaining agreement shall prevail. A provision of a collective bargaining agreement that conflicts with the terms of a statute is invalid and unenforceable.

(7) This section does not prohibit bargaining that affects contracts authorized by RCW 41.06.142.

(8) RCW 41.58.070 applies to uniformed personnel.