This bill creates a new chapter in Title 48 RCW and adds a new section to chapter 82.04 RCW to authorize two or more small business entities (defined as for‑profit businesses averaging no more than 20 employees over the last 24 months) to form joint self‑insurance programs to cover property damage and liability risks. It establishes program powers such as advance funding (self‑insurance), joint purchase of insurance or reinsurance, contracting for risk management, claims, and administrative services, appointment of a program treasurer (for multistate programs the treasurer must be located in a state of a participating entity), and requires designation of the state risk manager as the program’s agent to receive service of legal process. The chapter explicitly does not authorize self‑insurance for unemployment compensation or industrial insurance. The bill creates a regulatory and approval process administered by the state risk manager: programs must file a plan of management and operation and obtain state risk manager approval before operating; the state risk manager must approve or disapprove within 120 days and must approve or disapprove significant proposed changes within 60 days. It requires annual reports, audited financial statements for multistate programs, surety bonding for treasurers, rules on solvency and actuarial analyses, and limits on payments to officials for program services. The state risk manager may charge an initial investigation fee and recover costs for subsequent reviews. Approved programs are exempt from certain insurance premium taxes and specified fees, and the bill amends chapter 82.04 RCW to exempt program income from risk pooling activities. The bill creates civil enforcement tools and procedural changes rather than new criminal offenses: the state risk manager may issue cease and desist orders and, after notice or hearing (or with program consent), levy civil fines of $300 to $10,000 with a 15–30 day payment period and may refer nonpayment to the attorney general for collection; a program that fails to comply with a cease and desist order within 20 days is deemed to be operating in violation. It also sets procedural rules for service of process (service on the state risk manager triggers timelines, including a 40‑day delay before proceedings begin and a plaintiff fee set by the state risk manager). The bill provides civil immunity to persons who file required information and to the state risk manager and staff for official publications absent actual malice, fraud, or bad faith. Several details in the provided extracts are incomplete or unspecified: the full text and exact RCW section numbers for the new chapter and added section are not shown; the identity or office of the “commissioner” referenced is not specified; Section 6’s full requirements and the remainder of Section 7(6) regarding investment requirements are missing; and other sections (1–5 and potentially later provisions) are not included in the extracts.

If enacted, small for‑profit businesses with up to about 20 employees would have a new option to pool together to self‑insure property and liability risks instead of buying individual insurance, subject to state risk manager approval and ongoing oversight. Those programs could jointly fund reserves, buy reinsurance, hire claims and administrative services, organize as separate legal entities, and keep investment earnings, but they must submit a detailed plan, designate an in‑state treasurer for multistate pools, post a surety bond, file annual reports and audited financials, pay an initial review fee and follow solvency, actuarial, and contract rules; the state risk manager can deny approval, order compliance, levy fines, or require cessation if standards aren’t met. The people most affected are small business owners (who gain a new lower‑tax pooling option but take on new administrative, actuarial, bonding and reporting costs and risks), the Office of Risk Management/state risk manager (which gains approval, enforcement and fee roles and new workload), and third‑party administrators and insurers (who remain regulated and do not receive the program’s tax/fee exemptions). Some important details are missing from the extracted text—for example a portion of the investment rules, the formal identity of the referenced “commissioner,” and full text of certain sections—so exact operational requirements and limits remain unclear.