WA follows a biennium legislative cycle, where odd years are 105 days long and even years are 60 days long. This year's legislative session is 60 days long which started on January 8 and ends on March 7. The cutoff calendar can be accessed here.
Below are WA bills involving reproductive healthcare in the state:
Title: An act relating to material changes to the operations and governance structure of participants in the healthcare marketplace.
Summary: Increases oversight over consolidations between hospital systems and organizations. This bill requires medical mergers and acquisitions to provide documentation of their policies and procedures relating to charity care; and access to care such as reproductive, gender-affirming, emergency, and end-of-life care. This bill allows the attorney general to monitor these healthcare organizations and review their documentation to determine how it affects the affordability and accessibility of care in Washington state.
Title: An act relating to mandating health plans to provide coverage for the diagnosis of infertility, treatment for infertility, and standard fertility preservation services
Summary: Requires health insurance plans to cover fertility services such as infertility treatment and fertility preservation services.
Title: Concerning nonconsensual removal of or tampering with a sexually protective device.
Summary: Gives victims standing to file a case regarding non consensual removal (or lack thereof) of sexually protective devices such as condoms. This bill allows the court to offer recovery of damages and costs including $5,000 per violation.
If you are interested in participating in this year's session (contacting a representative, testifying at a hearing, or lobbying) instructions can be found here.
If we missed a bill, please fill out this form and we'll add it to this list as soon as possible.
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