This bill adds new statutory sections to chapter 28B.50 RCW (community and technical colleges) and chapter 28B.35 RCW (regional universities) requiring the state college board and regional universities to develop, periodically update, and publish model policies and procedures to prevent and address secondary traumatic stress in the campus workforce. The model policies must include a stated commitment to workplace mental health, promotion of a positive climate with attention to diversity and inclusion, regular assessment of campus implementation with employee input, and provision of appropriate resources and training for trustees, administrators, and staff. The law requires each campus system to establish a campus-wide workforce mental health committee charged with sharing mental health resources and supports (including links to public employees' benefits board resources where indicated), providing a link to a secondary traumatic stress self-assessment tool, and reporting at least once per year with a summary of committee activities to specified trustees or boards. The college board and each community and technical college, and regional universities, must publish links to resources, self-assessments, and best practices on their websites and collaborate with the Public Employees' Benefits Board and the Council of Presidents. Model policies must be posted publicly by September 1, 2025, and individual institutions must adopt or amend policies by the start of the 2025–26 academic year; updates must be posted “within a reasonable time” after development. This is a procedural and administrative statutory change that creates new policy and reporting requirements; it does not create new crimes or change penalties. Key terms and tools referenced (for example, “secondary traumatic stress,” the “secondary traumatic stress self-assessment tool,” and some governance terms) are not defined in the extracted text, the meaning of “within a reasonable time” is not specified, certain reporting recipients are unclear, and the extract contains no details on enforcement, funding, or oversight beyond the posting and adoption requirements. The bill is identified as H-0021.1 HOUSE BILL 1035, 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session.

If enacted, community and technical college districts and regional universities will need to adopt or update campus policies to prevent and address secondary traumatic stress, create campus-wide workforce mental health committees that meet reporting and training duties, and post model policies and resource links on their websites by September 1, 2025 with campus adoptions in place for the 2025–26 academic year. The state college board and regional universities must develop and keep model policies current, collaborate with the Public Employees' Benefits Board and the Council of Presidents to publish self-assessments and resources, and require annual committee summaries to their trustees or governing bodies. The practical effects will fall mainly on the college board, community and technical college districts, regional universities, boards of trustees, and campus employees who will see added responsibilities for policy development, committee work, training, implementation assessments, and public posting of resources. The bill does not specify funding, enforcement mechanisms, or definitions for key terms like “secondary traumatic stress” or the self-assessment tool, so institutions are likely to absorb administrative costs and make policy choices with some uncertainty about required content and oversight.