This bill amends Washington law to permanently establish four residential habilitation centers (RHCs) to provide services to persons with developmental disabilities: Lakeland Village (Medical Lake, Spokane County), Rainier School (Buckley, Pierce County), Yakima Valley School (Selah, Yakima County), and Fircrest School (Seattle, King County). It amends RCW 71A.20.020 to remove language that would have caused Yakima Valley School to cease operating as an RHC under specified conditions, creates new statutory sections describing RHCs and stating that existing resident and respite care RHCs are underutilized and should be opened to new residents, and repeals RCW 71A.20.180. Legally, the bill makes statutory modifications: it creates new statutory text, amends an existing RCW provision, and repeals another RCW provision. The changes concern the legal status and permanence of the named RHCs and include declaratory language about opening facilities to new residents; the bill does not include operational procedures, criteria for admissions, or procedural rules in the extracted text. The extracted information notes affected groups (persons with developmental disabilities, the four named RHCs, families and communities served) and legislative actions taken (first reading 02/10/25, referred to the Committee on Early Learning & Human Services). The bill text provided here does not include the full content of the repealed RCW 71A.20.180, any implementation schedule, effective date, funding, or definitions of "underutilized capacity," so those specifics are unclear from the available excerpts.

If enacted, the state would formally keep four residential habilitation centers open as long‑term places to serve people with developmental disabilities (Lakeland Village, Rainier School, Yakima Valley School, and Fircrest School) and would stop the legal pathway that would have allowed Yakima Valley to be closed. That likely preserves current access and makes it more likely beds and respite services at those campuses will be offered to new residents, benefiting people with developmental disabilities, their families, and the communities that rely on those services. The bill does not provide funding, a timeline, or operational rules, and it removes prior statutory duties tied to closing Yakima Valley, so the practical effects on agency budgets, staffing, and admissions processes are uncertain. Agencies responsible for running the campuses would still need sustained operating resources and concrete admission plans to open underused capacity, but those costs and implementation details are not specified in the text provided.