This bill amends RCW 28B.15.520 to change how community and technical college governing boards may and must waive tuition and fees. It authorizes boards, subject to RCW 28B.15.910, to waive all or part of tuition and services and activities fees for students age 19 or 20 who are eligible for resident tuition and who enroll in courses or programs to finish high school and obtain a high school diploma or certificate. It also allows boards to waive all or part of the nonresident tuition differential for those same 19and 20-year-old students for courses that lead to a high school diploma or certificate. The amendment requires governing boards to waive all tuition and services and activities fees for children and surviving spouses of law enforcement officers, firefighters, and Washington state patrol officers who lost their lives or became totally disabled in the line of duty while employed by a public law enforcement agency or a fullor part-time volunteer fire department in Washington, provided the child begins college within ten years of high school graduation. The bill defines "totally disabled" for this section as totally and permanently disabled for life by bodily injury or disease, preventing the person from performing any occupation or gainful pursuit. The bill also allows boards to waive up to 40 percent of the nonresident tuition differential for students enrolled in the regional education program for deaf students, with that waiver subject to federal funding of the program. Governing boards must report annually the cost of waived tuition and fees for the surviving spouses and children covered by the mandatory waiver to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, which must consolidate those reports and annually report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. Some referenced details are not included in the extracted text: the definitions of resident tuition and fee eligibility in RCW 28B.15.012–.015, the limitations in RCW 28B.15.910 that apply to these waivers, the content or relevance of the parenthetical reference to RCW 28A.600.405, the specific identity of the "appropriate fiscal and policy committees," and funding or size details for the regional education program for deaf students.

If enacted, community and technical colleges would be able to eliminate or reduce tuition and student activity fees for 19and 20-year-old students who enroll specifically to finish high school through college programs, and they must fully waive those fees for children and surviving spouses of Washington law enforcement officers, firefighters, or state patrol officers who died or became totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty (children must start college within ten years of high school graduation). Colleges may also waive the nonresident tuition surcharge for those same 19and 20-year-old high-school-completion students and for up to 40 percent of students in the regional education program for deaf students, though that deaf-student waiver depends on federal funding. Practically, eligible students would face lower out-of-pocket costs and have greater access to finishing high school through community colleges. The groups most affected are college governing boards and the colleges themselves, which would have new responsibilities to grant waivers, track the cost of waivers for qualifying children and spouses, and report those costs to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; the State Board must consolidate and send an annual report to the legislature. That likely reduces tuition revenue for colleges unless other funding replaces it, so colleges could face increased budget pressure or need to reprioritize funds. Important implementation details are missing here—how residency eligibility is determined, what limits RCW 28B.15.910 may impose, and how federal funding for the deaf program will affect the college costs—so the exact fiscal impact and number of students who will benefit are unclear.