This bill (House Bill 1184) amends RCW 49.46.130 and creates a new legislative findings section. It adds a new exemption (subsection (2)(k)) to Washington’s overtime statute allowing certain employees of qualifying nonprofit organizations or small businesses to be exempt from overtime pay if they are paid a predetermined fixed salary equal to at least 1.5 times the statewide minimum wage for a 40-hour workweek and if they meet the duties-related criteria for exemption under RCW 49.46.010(3)(c). The bill also includes specific definitions for "nonprofit organization" and "small business" that limit the exemption to nonprofits described in IRC section 501(c)(3), (5), or (6) with additional staffing or size criteria, and to businesses independently owned and operated with 50 or fewer full‑time equivalent employees. The amendment leaves intact the general overtime rule (time-and-a-half for hours over 40) and retains the multiple existing exemptions and special rules currently listed in RCW 49.46.130, including provisions and phased overtime thresholds for agricultural and dairy employees and an existing limitation on damages, penalties, and fees for certain agricultural and dairy overtime claims (with an exception for dairy employees who were members of the plaintiff class in Martinez-Cuevas v. DeRuyter Bros. Dairy). The bill contains a legislative statement about a future (2028) salary threshold equal to two and one‑half times the statewide minimum wage (an estimated $93,000 per year) presented as a finding, but the excerpt does not show statutory language enacting that numeric 2028 standard. Important statutory details are not included in the provided text: the precise duties test in RCW 49.46.010(3)(c) and the numeric amount of the current statewide minimum wage in RCW 49.46.020 are not shown here, and the excerpt does not include any effective date, enforcement mechanism, or additional implementation language that may appear elsewhere in the bill.

If enacted, the bill would let many small businesses and certain nonprofits choose to pay some employees a fixed salary instead of paying overtime, as long as that salary is at least one and a half times the state minimum wage for a 40‑hour week and the employee’s job duties meet the usual exemption test. Practically, that gives eligible employers—small businesses with 50 or fewer full‑time equivalents and nonprofits meeting the bill’s size or service criteria—a way to limit overtime expense by raising base pay for some staff rather than paying time‑and‑a‑half for hours over 40; employees so classified would generally stop receiving overtime pay but would get a higher guaranteed salary. The groups most affected are small employers and qualifying nonprofits that operate 24/7 programs or must meet staffing ratios, plus the employees who work for them. Employers will see a tradeoff: higher fixed payroll costs for exempt salaries but potentially lower overtime payouts and simpler scheduling decisions; employees may lose overtime premiums but gain predictable pay. Important details are missing here, including the exact numeric minimum wage used to calculate the 1.5× threshold, the full duties test the employees must meet, whether the later 2028 salary target mentioned in the bill’s findings becomes law, and any effective date or enforcement rules, so some practical consequences and timing remain uncertain.