This bill amends RCW 39.26.300 to change how state agencies obtain spoken-language interpreter services. It authorizes the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), the Health Care Authority (HCA), and the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) to purchase interpreter services for limited English–speaking applicants, recipients, injured workers, and crime victims, and requires each of those agencies to have at least one contract for telephonic and video remote interpreting. Upon expiration of contracts in effect on June 7, 2018 (and no later than September 1, 2020), an unnamed “department” must develop and implement a statewide procurement model and may jointly purchase services; interpreter services procured must be provided by state-certified/authorized or nationally certified language access providers where available, with other qualified interpreters allowed if certified providers are not available. The change preserves the option for state employees or employees of medical/vocational providers to provide interpreting, and allows L&I to directly pay language access providers in emergency or urgent care situations when advance notice is not feasible. The bill also creates new screening and procedural requirements for interpreters: interpreters hired before July 1, 2026 must submit a national FBI fingerprint background check to the hiring entity by that date; interpreters hired on or after July 1, 2026 must submit an FBI fingerprint check before being permitted to provide services; and beginning July 1, 2026 any interpreter providing services under this section must submit an FBI identity history summary at least annually. Affected entities include DSHS, DCYF, HCA, L&I, medical and vocational providers serving limited English–speaking individuals, language access providers, and broadly defined state agencies (with specified exclusions for institutions of higher education, the school for the blind, and the Washington center for deaf and hard of hearing youth). The text does not identify which specific “department” must implement the statewide procurement model in one subsection, does not include the RCW 74.04.025 definition of “language access providers,” and does not specify operational details for obtaining, paying for, processing, or enforcing the FBI checks or identity history summaries; it also does not address procurement of services for sensory-impaired persons.

If enacted, the main practical change is that core state agencies (DSHS, DCYF, HCA and L&I) will be required to buy spoken-language interpreter services through contracts for in-person and telephonic/video remote work and to use stateor nationally-certified interpreters whenever available. Agencies will need to budget for and manage these contracts, and L&I will have authority to pay interpreters directly in emergency medical situations. Interpreters must undergo FBI fingerprint background checks by set deadlines and, starting July 1, 2026, must provide an annual FBI identity history summary, so agencies and hiring entities will need processes to collect and track those checks. Most affected are the four named agencies, medical and vocational providers serving limited English-speaking injured workers or crime victims, and language access providers. Agencies face higher administrative and contracting responsibilities and likely higher recurring costs to buy certified interpreter services and to handle required background checks; language access providers will face stronger incentives to obtain the specified certifications to win contracts. The law leaves some key details unclear: it does not identify which specific department will run the statewide procurement model, who pays for fingerprinting and identity summaries, how enforcement will work, or how interpreters for sensory-impaired people will be arranged.