This bill amends RCW 41.04.010 and adds a new section to chapter 41.04 RCW to change hiring and examination procedures by creating and specifying scoring preferences for veterans and certain federal employees and by requiring that federal employees be preferred for appointment and employment in every state agency. In legal terms, it is a procedural change to civil service appointment rules and examination scoring; it modifies existing law and creates a new statutory preference requirement. Specifically, the bill requires numeric score additions on a 100-point scale that are added to the passing mark, grade, or rating: +10% for a veteran who served during a period of war or armed conflict and is not receiving military retirement (applies until the veteran’s first appointment; not available for promotional exams); +5% for a veteran who did not serve during a period of war or armed conflict or is receiving military retirement (applies until first appointment; not for promotional exams); +5% for a veteran called to active military service from state or local government employment (applies to promotional examinations until the first promotion only); and +5% for a defined federal employee (added to promotional examinations until the first promotion only). Veterans may claim the scoring criteria upon release from active service with a qualifying discharge or upon receipt of specified discharge paperwork. The bill defines "federal employee" for these purposes as someone separated from federal service under Executive Order 14210 (90 Fed. Reg. 9669, Feb. 11, 2025) or who voluntarily separated due to termination of remote work arrangements under the Presidential Memorandum cited at 90 Fed. Reg. 8251 (Jan. 20, 2025). It also defines "state agency" broadly to include offices, departments, divisions, bureaus, boards, commissions, or other agencies of the state. The changes apply to the state of Washington, its political subdivisions and municipal corporations, and private companies or agencies contracted to administer competitive examinations. The document omits several details necessary to fully implement or compare to current law: the referenced definitions in RCW 41.04.007, RCW 41.04.005, and RCW 73.04.005 are not included; the full texts of Executive Order 14210 and the cited Presidential Memorandum are not provided; the prior language of the amended sections is not shown, so specific differences from current law cannot be determined here; the new section is unnumbered in the extract; and procedural definitions and enforcement, exceptions, and interaction with other hiring rules are not included.

If enacted, certain veterans and people who recently left federal service because of the 2025 executive actions will get fixed point boosts on state competitive hiring exams and a limited preference in promotional exams, and federal employees meeting the bill’s definition must be preferred for appointment across all state agencies. Practically, that will make those applicants more likely to pass exams and receive first appointments or first promotions compared with other candidates, with the biggest advantage going to veterans who served during periods of war or armed conflict. The groups most affected are veterans (in several categories) and the narrowly defined group of federal employees, along with every state agency and any private contractors that run civil service exams for the state. Agencies will need to change hiring processes, verify eligibility with discharge papers or the cited executive materials, and train staff or update procedures, which creates modest administrative costs and some risk of disputes because key definitions and interaction with existing hiring rules are not included in the extracted text and implementation details are unclear.