This bill creates a new wage replacement program codified as a new chapter in Title 50 RCW (referred to as chapter 50C) and establishes a Washington wage replacement account in the state treasury to hold program revenues. It requires the Employment Security Department to select a third‑party administrator (TPA) by July 1, 2026, and allows applicants to begin applying on January 1, 2027. Weekly payments are set equal to the weekly benefit amount calculated under RCW 50.20.120, subject to fund availability, a one‑week waiting period, and payment limits (up to 26 times the weekly payment amount or one‑third of the applicant’s base year wages). Eligible applicants must be Washington residents who worked at least 680 hours in their base year, are unemployed through no fault of their own, and are not disqualified solely because they were not authorized to work in the U.S. at the time of the work or during the week for which payments are sought. The bill creates procedural and administrative rules for TPAs: TPAs must contract with community organizations for outreach, screen applicants, make payments, establish application/payment/appeals processes, issue prompt written notices of denials, and maintain records (including destroying verification records within 15 days after an applicant no longer uses the program). It lists disqualification grounds (voluntary quit without good cause, discharge for misconduct or gross misconduct, and fraud or material misrepresentation), bars payments when other specified benefits are received, requires an overpayment reporting and collection/forgiveness process, and exempts program payments from assignment, levy, attachment, and most debt collection. The department must appoint an 11‑member advisory committee and may adopt rules; the bill also states that the chapter does not create an entitlement or private right of action and may be amended or repealed by the legislature. The act amends existing law to fund and implement the program: it amends RCW 50.24.014 to create identifiable accounts in the administrative contingency fund for special programs and for the Employment Security Department’s administrative costs, financed by employer contributions (generally set at one one‑hundredth of one percent for specified accounts) with rounding and collection rules and limited exemptions. It reenacts and amends RCW 42.56.410 and RCW 50.29.025 and amends RCW 50.29.041 to add a wage replacement program surcharge (0.01% for rate years 2026 and 2027; a commissioner‑set rate thereafter) and to adjust employer rate calculations, social cost factors, and caps on combined contribution rates (including a general cap and a lower cap for certain NAICS codes). Important technical material is missing or truncated in the extracted text: several referenced sections and tables (including full rate tables, the history‑factor table, exact cut‑off/computation dates, section 8 and section 22 content, and some cross‑referenced definitions and rule criteria) are not provided here, so precise calculation mechanics and some selection or implementation details are unclear.

If enacted, Washington would create a new, state-funded wage replacement program that begins accepting applications January 1, 2027 and is run by private third‑party administrators contracted and overseen by the Employment Security Department. The program would pay limited weekly benefits (capped per year and only when money is available in a new Washington wage replacement account) and require TPAs to do outreach, eligibility screening, payments, appeals, and to contract with community organizations to help applicants; the department must select a TPA by July 1, 2026 and appoint an advisory committee to review implementation. The most affected parties are employers, who will pay small new contribution surcharges (initially 0.01% for rate years 2026–27 and a commissioner‑set rate thereafter) that increase payroll tax costs and are added into UI rate calculations; third‑party administrators and community organizations, which will take on new contracting, administrative, and outreach responsibilities; and jobseekers who previously lacked work authorization, who may now be eligible for limited payments but must meet work‑history and residency tests and a one‑week waiting period. The bill also creates strict privacy protections (limits on immigration‑status inquiries, prohibition on using collected information for immigration enforcement, and required destruction of verification records soon after use), requires prompt written notice of denials, and allows overpayment collection and forgiveness processes; key implementation details and some rate mechanics are not included in the provided text, so exact funding levels, rulemaking details, and the complete mechanics of the employer rate changes remain uncertain.