Second Substitute House Bill 1917 (69th Legislature, 2025) amends multiple juvenile justice statutes and adds a new section to chapter 72.01 RCW. The bill replaces the definitions section in RCW 13.40.020, revises the secretary’s duties for juvenile rehabilitation (RCW 13.40.460), amends placement rules (including RCW 72.05.420 and 13.40.215), and creates a new statutory transfer framework in chapter 72.01. These are changes to existing law and the addition of a new statutory section rather than the creation of new criminal offenses. The changes are primarily procedural and administrative. They clarify and expand definitions (for example assessment, community supervision, residential treatment, community transition services, safe operational capacity, restraints, and others), establish more detailed secretary and department duties (classification, intake evaluation, placement criteria related to sexual aggression risk and vulnerability, reporting of custodial assaults), set safe operational capacity thresholds and required actions when capacity approaches or exceeds those thresholds (planning at 90% and specified reduction steps at 110%), and limit initial placement in community facilities to juveniles who meet risk-assessment and other criteria. The bill requires written notice, generally no later than 30 days before discharge, parole, transfer, or authorized leave, to local law enforcement, certain school officials, victims or specified persons for juveniles found to have committed violent offenses, sex offenses, or stalking; it also permits some emergency leaves and contains procedures for emergency notification and recapture. The act adds a new section that generally prevents transfer of persons committed to DCYF to DOC until age 25 except for three narrow exceptions (significant safety risk, voluntary transfer with counsel and review options, or temporary capacity-based transfers through July 1, 2031), sets selection priorities for any capacity-based transfers, and requires DCYF reviews and an annual report to the legislature subject to funding. The bill includes program and sanctions definitions (community restitution limits, local sanctions ranges) and some procedural timing rules (review hearings for inpatient treatment, transfer notification timing). A contingent enactment clause makes the act null and void unless specific funding is provided in the omnibus appropriations act by June 30, 2025. The provided materials are incomplete in several places: portions of the postpartum recovery definition and other clauses are truncated, some amended RCW texts (including full language of RCW 13.40.460, 13.40.215, and parts of RCW 72.05.420) are missing, and cross-referenced provisions (including "section 6(3) of this act" and certain RCW cross-references) are not included. The excerpts show procedural and placement changes but do not show any explicit changes to criminal penalties in the provided text; whether any penalty changes appear elsewhere in the bill is uncertain from the materials given.

If enacted, the bill shifts direct operational responsibility and new procedural requirements onto the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF): it must run juvenile rehabilitation institutions, create classification and risk-assessment systems, monitor and act when facilities reach 90% and 110% of safe operational capacity, send specified 30-day notices to local law enforcement, schools, victims and others before discharge or transfer, and review placements for people who would remain in DCYF custody past age 21. The law also generally keeps people in DCYF custody until age 25 (with defined exceptions for safety, voluntary transfer, or temporary capacity-driven transfers through July 1, 2031), prohibits certain convicted juvenile sex offenders from attending the same school as their victims with parents responsible for related transportation costs, and requires DCYF to provide options and counsel when adults convicted as juveniles seek transfer from DOC to DCYF. The most affected parties are DCYF (more duties, reporting, planning and notice obligations and potentially higher operating and staffing costs), the Department of Corrections (may receive transfers and must coordinate on voluntary transfers and approvals), local law enforcement and school districts (new notice and student-placement interactions, and potential transport cost responsibilities borne by parents), victims and witnesses (new notice rights and confidentiality protections), and juvenile offenders (longer retention in juvenile facilities in many cases but with a path to review or transfer). The act’s fiscal and operational impacts, exact timing for transfers tied to referenced sections, and some definitions (for example parts of postpartum recovery and certain eligibility criteria) are incomplete in the provided text, and the whole act is null and void unless specific funding is included in the omnibus appropriations act by June 30, 2025.