House Bill 1889 amends existing continuing care retirement community (CCRC) law and adds a new chapter to Title 18 RCW. It changes registration and oversight procedures for CCRCs by requiring, beginning July 1, 2027, that applicants submit audited financial statements meeting specified 10-year projections, an implementation plan for resident notification and governance participation, and other materials. The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) must contract for actuarial analysis using specified standards, base registration decisions on a comprehensive 10-year actuarial study plus verification that licensed portions and required documents meet chapter standards, and issue or deny registration within 60 days of a complete application. Registrations last two years, are nontransferable, and submitted materials are exempt from public disclosure; DSHS may set fees to cover its costs, maintain an online register of CCRCs, adopt rules, and applicants for new CCRCs cannot be accepted before July 1, 2027. A transitional rule treats CCRCs with registrations issued before July 1, 2025 as valid until September 30, 2027 if they apply for new registration by July 1, 2027; that transitional section expires December 31, 2027. The bill amends RCW 18.390.010, 18.390.030, 18.390.040, and 18.390.080 and creates at least one new section. The bill also creates the office of the state senior independent living ombuds within a new chapter and requires the Department of Commerce to contract with a private nonprofit to provide statewide ombuds services for independent living residents of CCRCs. The state ombuds will coordinate local ombuds, establish a uniform complaint reporting system with annual reporting to Commerce and the Legislature, develop educational materials, set entry and confidentiality procedures, train volunteers, and coordinate with other ombuds offices. The act sets qualification and conflict-of-interest restrictions for ombuds, grants liability protections and confidentiality privileges, requires CCRCs to post ombuds contact information, directs Commerce to adopt rules, convenes a work group to define data needs, and requires a work group report by October 1, 2028; those work group provisions expire January 1, 2030. Sections 6 through 15 are stated to constitute the new chapter. Important context is missing from the provided text: parts of the amendment to RCW 18.390.080 are cut off, the full new chapter text and any additional new sections are not included, and the referenced RCW 18.390.060 disclosure statement contents are not provided. The summary is limited to the provisions explicitly contained in the extracted facts.

If enacted, operators of continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) will face new, stronger financial and governance vetting before they can register: beginning July 1, 2027 they must provide audited financial statements with 10‑year projections, an implementation plan showing how residents (and noncontractual residents) are informed and involved, and residency agreements that meet the chapter’s requirements. Preparing those materials and paying for required actuarial reviews will raise upfront costs and administrative work for CCRCs and their accountants/actuaries, and some communities may be delayed from signing new residents or from opening until they satisfy DSHS. The Department of Social and Health Services must contract for actuarial analysis, decide on applications within 60 days of a complete filing, and charge fees to cover its costs, so regulators will have new workload funded by those fees; registration decisions can be appealed, and records submitted for registration are exempt from public disclosure. Existing CCRCs with registrations issued before July 1, 2025 get a temporary extension if they apply by July 1, 2027, and no brand new CCRCs may be approved before July 1, 2027. The bill also creates a statewide senior independent living ombuds office run by a nonprofit under contract with the Department of Commerce to serve independent living residents of CCRCs, which will likely give residents and families a new avenue for complaints, education, and annual complaint data reporting to the Legislature. Commerce and its contractor will incur costs and responsibilities to hire qualified ombuds, set up a uniform reporting system, post contact notices in buildings, maintain confidentiality rules, and convene a work group whose findings must be reported by October 1, 2028 (with that study authority expiring January 1, 2030). Some implementation details and certain statutory cross-references are missing from the provided text, so exact funding sources, rule details, and how these new requirements interact with other statutes are not fully clear.