This bill amends several existing Washington statutes and adds new sections to create a statutory framework changing who may consent to certain health and behavioral health services for minors. It modifies RCW 70.24.110 to allow a minor 17 years of age or older to consent to hospital, medical, and surgical care related to diagnosis or treatment of a sexually transmitted disease and to treatment to avoid HIV infection without parental consent or parental financial liability. It amends RCW 71.34.500, .510, .520, and .530 to allow minors 17 years of age or older to self-admit to inpatient mental health or substance use disorder treatment (with concurrence of the professional person in charge), to seek outpatient treatment, to give written notice of intent to leave, and to receive inpatient care and discharge under specified notice and recording procedures; parental authorization remains required for minors under 17. The amendments impose procedural requirements including written renewal of voluntary inpatient consent at least every 12 months, review and documentation of continued need at least every 180 days, parental notice requirements (with specific exceptions and an obligation to attempt contact promptly and in a form likely to reach the parent within 24 hours), mandated checks of the Washington State Patrol public list on a defined schedule if parent notice is withheld or cannot be made, and a requirement that the professional person discharge a minor by the second judicial day after receipt of a written notice of intent to leave. The bill adds a new section to chapter 9.02 RCW and a new section to chapter 26.28 RCW. The new 9.02 section provides that a parent or legal guardian of a minor under 17 may not be held financially responsible for abortion-related services received by the minor if the parent did not consent, and it prohibits state expenditure to permit a minor under 17 to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy without parental consent except when the minor’s primary care physician, using reasonable, good faith clinical judgment, determines the minor’s life is in imminent danger because of a serious physical disorder, illness, or injury. The new 26.28 section provides that a minor under 17 may not provide informed consent for a health care procedure unless specifically authorized by statute and abolishes the common-law “mature minor” or implied emancipation rule to the extent it conflicts with the section. These changes are procedural and substantive alterations of consent rules and state funding limits rather than the creation of any new crime or explicit changes to criminal penalties. The bill contains a severability clause. Important statutory definitions (for example, “professional person in charge,” “evaluation and treatment facility,” “approved substance use disorder treatment program,” and “second judicial day”) and the text or effect of referenced provisions and case law cited are not provided here, so how those terms and cross-references operate with existing law is unclear from the extracted material.

If enacted, 17-year-olds would be able to seek STD/HIV care, outpatient mental health or substance use disorder treatment, and admit themselves to inpatient mental health or SUD treatment without parental permission, and they could give written notice to leave inpatient mental health services; providers will therefore see more minors accessing care on their own and will face new administrative duties—getting professional concurrence, renewing inpatient consent annually, reviewing continued need every 180 days, documenting notices to leave, meeting prompt discharge timelines, and following specific parent-notification rules that include checking the Washington State Patrol missing-person list frequently and alerting DCYF if the minor is listed. These changes likely increase workload and compliance risk for hospitals, evaluation and treatment facilities, and the professionals in charge, and they shift some costs and liability away from parents (for certain services) while raising risks for providers if notification, documentation, or discharge procedures are missed. Parents and the state would face clear limits on responsibility for abortion-related care for minors under 17: parents who did not consent may not be held financially responsible, and the state may not pay for a voluntary abortion for a minor under 17 except when the minor’s primary care physician, using good-faith clinical judgment, determines the minor’s life is in imminent danger; the bill also abolishes the common-law “mature minor” rule to the extent it conflicts with these statutes, which reduces providers’ discretion to treat younger minors without explicit statutory authorization. Key terms and some procedural details (for example, definitions of “professional person in charge,” “second judicial day,” and interaction with cited statutes) are not included here, so how some duties are operationalized remains uncertain.