This bill creates new education and reporting requirements and changes civil tort rules for crashes involving people defined as "vulnerable users of a public way." It requires the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (in consultation with the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys) to develop and provide training and materials about negligent driving causing injury or death of vulnerable users to qualifying law enforcement officers and prosecutors, and requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to develop similar training for judicial officers. Those education programs must be developed by set deadlines (WSCJTC/WAPA by July 1, 2027; AOC by January 1, 2028), are conditioned on available appropriations, and include timelines for delivery and completion (materials to be provided within three months of employment and at least every three years; qualifying officers and prosecutors must complete the classes within six months of employment and every three years thereafter if classes are made available). The bill creates a statutory civil presumption in tort actions that a driver who proximately causes the injury or death of a vulnerable user acted negligently, subject to specified exceptions and rebuttal standards. The presumption applies only to driver defendants, is cumulative and nonexclusive of other remedies or criminal law, and specifies recoveries and remedies: actual damages, $1,500 statutory damages, reasonable attorneys' fees and costs for prevailing plaintiffs and prevailing defendants, and allowance for punitive damages for plaintiffs if the driver has prior civil or criminal findings for injuring or killing a vulnerable road user. The bill amends accident-reporting law to require drivers who meet reporting thresholds to file written reports within four days and requires investigating officers to file investigator reports. It expands required accident-report form content to include property damage amounts, number of vehicles involved, vehicle status (parked, standing, or moving), occupancy, distraction indicators with specified categories, and whether the collision involved a vulnerable user and the type of vulnerable user. The Washington State Patrol chief must prescribe the forms and adopt rules on property-damage reporting thresholds (with a statutory $500 baseline from 1987 and a process for inflation-based revisions not more often than every two years). The act takes effect July 1, 2026. Definitions and references are provided by cross-reference: "negligent" by RCW 46.61.525, "vehicle" by RCW 46.04.670, and the bill defines "vulnerable user of a public way" to include pedestrians, people riding animals, and people operating or riding listed non-motorcycle devices (bicycles, electric-assisted bicycles, mopeds, motor-driven cycles, motorized foot scooters, farm tractors without enclosed shells, and electric personal assistive mobility devices); the definition explicitly excludes motorcycles. Several amendment texts and the full amended language for RCW 46.52.030 and RCW 46.52.070 are not fully included in the extracted material, and several implementation provisions are conditioned on available appropriations.

If enacted, the bill would require training for new and current law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges about negligent driving that injures or kills "vulnerable users" (pedestrians, people on bikes or certain light vehicles, people on animals, and similar users) with classes to be developed by the state training commission and prosecuting attorneys’ association by July 1, 2027 and by the court administrative office by January 1, 2028; those classes must be completed within six months of hire and every three years thereafter but only if funded. It would also create a civil presumption that a driver who proximately causes the injury or death of a vulnerable user acted negligently, which could make it easier for injured people or families to recover actual damages, a $1,500 statutory award, and attorneys’ fees (and allow punitive damages if the driver has prior similar findings); the presumption applies only to drivers and is cumulative with other remedies. Reporting rules change too: drivers must file written accident reports within four days when thresholds are met, police must file investigator reports, and patrol-prescribed accident forms must capture property damage amounts, number of vehicles, occupancy and movement status, detailed distraction categories, and whether a vulnerable user was involved; the chief of the Washington State Patrol will set and periodically index the property-damage reporting threshold. Those most affected are law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and the courts, which must develop and deliver new training (with associated workload and costs that depend on whether the Legislature funds them), the Washington State Patrol and local police, which will face more detailed reporting duties and form maintenance, and drivers who may face a higher risk of adverse civil outcomes and increased reporting obligations after crashes. Victims and families of vulnerable users are likely to have an easier path to recover damages. Some important details are missing or left dependent on appropriations (exact reporting form language, the full amended text of RCW 46.52.070, and the bill’s enforcement or funding specifics), so the timing and scope of these changes could vary in practice.