This bill reenacts and amends RCW 26.23.020, adds a new section to chapter 26.23 RCW, and amends related child support statutes (including RCW 26.23.060 and RCW 74.20A.350). It creates a new reporting duty for "service recipients" doing business in Washington to report certain "service providers" to the Washington state support registry when they pay or contract with a provider for $600 or more in a calendar year. Reports must include specified identifying information, indicate the person is a service provider (not an employee), be submitted within 20 days of paying/anticipating payment or entering a contract for $600+, and may be exempted if the provider was reported and paid within the prior 60 days. The bill makes procedural changes to withholding and collection: service recipients must honor income withholding orders and orders to withhold and deliver like employers, immediately begin payroll deductions when served, and remit amounts withheld to the registry within seven working days. Employers and the Employment Security Department must file answers to withholding orders within 20 days, may deduct processing fees (up to $10 for the first disbursement and $1 for each subsequent disbursement), and withholding orders have priority over other legal processes. The statute limits payroll deductions for recurring orders to no more than 50 percent of the responsible parent's disposable earnings and specifies special rules for withholding from lump-sum payments. The bill creates and adjusts enforcement tools and penalties: civil penalties for failing to report are $25 per month per service provider, and $500 if failure to report resulted from a conspiracy to avoid or falsify reporting. RCW 74.20A.350 is amended to authorize the Division of Child Support to issue notices of noncompliance, assess fines (up to $100 per occurrence for specified noncompliance), require written warnings before some fines, provide administrative hearing procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act, and use various collection remedies and repayment agreements. The Department of Social and Health Services Secretary may adopt rules to implement the new reporting section and may establish exemptions. The act takes effect January 1, 2027. Some material is missing from the provided excerpts: parts of the amended RCW 26.23.060 end mid-sentence, the text of amendments to RCW 74.20A.080 is incomplete, and additional sections referenced (including full text of "section 2" and other cross-referenced amendments) are not included here, so certain specific language and any additional changes elsewhere in the bill cannot be confirmed from these extracts.

If enacted, businesses and app-based platforms in Washington that hire or use independent contractors or gig workers who earn or are contracted for $600 or more in a year will face a new, time-sensitive reporting duty to the state support registry and new rules that treat those contractors like employers for the purpose of child support withholding. Practically, that means these businesses must set up processes to report worker details within 20 days of hitting the $600 threshold or risk civil penalties ($25 per month per provider, or $500 if the failure involved a conspiracy), and if the Division of Child Support issues a withholding or withhold-and-deliver order, the business must withhold and remit money to the registry within seven days subject to the 50% cap on disposable earnings and lump-sum rules; payroll processors may deduct up to $10 initially and $1 thereafter. The Division of Child Support and the Washington state support registry will have increased enforcement and processing responsibilities, and contractors may face greater risk of automatic wage or payment withholding that can reduce their cash flow. Key operational impacts and costs are clear but some details are missing: the act gives the DSHS secretary rulemaking power and allows exemptions, and it limits how long the registry can retain provider information, but the excerpts do not show all amended sections or implementation procedures and do not specify any funding to support the additional workload for state agencies or businesses. The act’s effective date in the provided text is January 1, 2027, but final procedures, reporting channels, and other cross-referenced amendments are not included here, so some practical steps businesses and agencies must take remain uncertain.