This bill adds a new section to chapter 74.13 RCW creating a procedural reporting requirement that the department must submit regular reports on racial disproportionality in child welfare. It establishes a preliminary report due October 1, 2025, a first full report due September 1, 2026, and biennial reporting thereafter, with submissions required to comply with RCW 43.01.036. This is a new statutory reporting duty (procedural change); it does not create a new crime or change penalties in the extracted text. Required report content includes at least the last five years of available data disaggregated by race covering specified intake, investigation, service, placement, outcome, and workforce metrics; documentation of efforts taken to address racial disproportionality; the outcome measures used; recommendations for policy, practice, or funding changes; and updates from the department’s assessment oversight group regarding assessment use, selection of new tools, and coordination of assessments. The provision references existing terms and chapters (for example, "family assessment response" in RCW 26.44.020 and children dependent under chapter 13.34 RCW) but the extracted text does not identify which specific "department" is responsible, which legislative committees are the "appropriate committees," the composition or authority of the assessment oversight group, the new section number, or any implementation funding or resources.

If enacted, an unnamed state department would have to produce a preliminary report by October 1, 2025, a full report by September 1, 2026, and then every two years, using at least the last five years of data disaggregated by race. Those reports must cover specified intake, investigation, service, placement, outcome, and workforce metrics; describe efforts taken to address racial disproportionality; list outcome measures; make recommendations for policy, practice, or funding changes; and include updates from the department’s assessment oversight group about assessment tools and coordination. Families receiving prevention services or referrals, children who are dependent under chapter 13.34 RCW, and department employees (with leadership and nonleadership roles reported separately) are the primary populations described. The clear, direct effect is added ongoing work and likely new administrative costs for the department to collect, analyze, disaggregate, and report multi-year data and produce recommendations, which could shift staff time and resources toward measurement and oversight and provide legislators with recurring information to shape policy or funding decisions. Key implementation details are missing here—most importantly which specific department must act, which legislative committees will receive the reports, and whether the assessment oversight group or the department will get funding or new authority—so the scale of the workload and the net cost or staffing changes remain uncertain.