A Brief Examination of Relevant Legislation from the Washington State Legislature

As part of its ongoing research on state legislatures, Deltek’s General Government Service team has here an overview of relevant legislation from the most recent session of the Washington State’s Legislature. This work follows similar research previously conducted on the states of Illinois, Virginia, California, New York, Texas, and Florida.

Introduction

The Washington State Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the 98 seat House of Representatives and 49 seat Senate. The State Legislature meets annually on the second Monday in January, for either 105 days on odd-numbered years or 60 days on even-numbered years. The 2018 Regular Session adjourned on March 8 2018.

Notable Legislation

The House introduced 2015 pieces of legislation in 2018, while the Senate saw 1632 pieces introduced. Of these, the House passed 367 into new law and the Senate passed 309. Among these, topics included a range of relevant areas, including procurement and contracting, business licensing and regulation, and specific markets and technologies.

The House passed a new law, from HB 1352, concerning licensing and regulatory requirements of small business owners. This now notes that the legislature will identify what due process or other rights and protections may exist for small businesses selected for audit or inspection, as these businesses oftentimes must seek outside counsel or assistance to participate in these audits. Somewhat related, HB 1120 was also passed which strives to improve the economic development and viability of small businesses. Aside from actions relating specifically to small businesses, the Legislature also passed HB 2005, which strives to improve the overall business climate in the state. This law will simplify the administration of municipal general business licenses.

Regarding a more specific area, HB 5197 was introduced, which deals with the State’s acquisition of an All Payer Claims Database. The State is interested in procuring a new All Payer Claims Database, and this bill sought to add additional requirements around data system security. Although the bill was not passed, the State appears to be moving forward with the procurement. More information on this can be found here.

Aside from these, some bills were introduced focusing on information technology, specifically cybersecurity matters. HB 1929, which was introduced but did not pass to become law, sought to build a more robust information technology security posture, including by utilizing assets at the Military Department and other agencies. In addition, SB 5455, which also did not pass, sought to address statewide cybersecurity performance through an “Excellence Assessment,” meaning an assessment of enterprise cybersecurity operational performance using a NIST-approved framework.

As with the other recaps on similar research conducted for other states, this brief look at a few pieces of legislation provide some insights into Washington State’s legislative agenda. These show that the Washington State Legislature has enacted some new laws that may have an impact on companies doing business with the state. Although some of these bills were not passed into law, such as those pertaining to cybersecurity, it may be worth monitoring these in future in case they are introduced again. More information on all legislation from the Washington State Legislature can be found here. The Washington State Legislature has Committee Assembly days scheduled on November 14-15 for the Senate, December 3-4 for the House, and a Joint Session on December 5. The next regular session will begin on January 14, 2019.

Source: Washington State Legislature