This bill adds new sections to chapter 74.39A RCW and chapter 74.09 RCW to require that any benefit administered through contracted entities provide medically tailored meals to clients and enrollees under those chapters. The measure was prefiled 12/30/2025, passed the Senate on March 6, 2026, and passed the House on March 11, 2026. It creates new statutory requirements (new law) for how medically tailored meal benefits must be provided; it is an administrative/procedural change rather than a criminal or penalty change. The bill requires prioritizing purchase of medically tailored meals from vendors that are nonprofit organizations or small businesses able to provide locally sourced, fresh, whole foods or from-scratch meals, and requires vendors to follow a client’s medically tailored nutrition care plan. Menus must be reviewed and approved by a qualified medical professional. Specified meal standards include alignment with evidence-based nutritional practice guidelines for the condition, accommodations for dietary needs, allergy restrictions, and cultural preferences, a minimum of 500 calories or otherwise meeting medically appropriate energy needs, and provision of one-third of the Food and Nutrition Board’s recommended dietary reference intakes for carbohydrates and protein unless otherwise permitted. The bill defines “locally sourced,” “medically tailored meal,” “medically tailored meal vendor,” and “qualified medical professional” (the latter tied to credentials under RCW 18.130.040). The provisions refer to “the department” and “the authority” as administrators but do not identify which specific agencies in the extracted text. Important implementation details are not included here: the bill text as provided does not specify contracting processes, funding, enforcement or monitoring, how “small business” and “nonprofit organization” are defined or verified, who may permit deviations from the nutritional specifications, or which specific evidence-based guidelines will be used. These omissions mean operational details and some applicability questions remain uncertain without the surrounding statutory context.

If enacted, the state would require medically tailored meals provided through the cited health programs to follow individualized nutrition care plans, be reviewed and approved by a qualified medical professional, meet minimum calorie and protein/carbohydrate targets (at least 500 calories or medically appropriate energy needs and about one-third of the recommended dietary reference intakes for carbs and protein), and prioritize purchase from nonprofit organizations or small businesses that supply locally sourced, fresh or from‑scratch meals and use community-based delivery drivers. Clients and enrollees in those programs would likely see more meals designed to treat specific conditions and greater use of local vendors, while medically tailored meal vendors must meet stricter menu, sourcing, and medical-review requirements. The main impacts fall on the administering agencies (the department and the authority named in the new sections), vendors, qualified medical professionals, and program participants. Agencies will need to add these requirements into contracts and oversight, vendors will face higher responsibilities and likely higher costs to source locally, document compliance, and secure menu approval by credentialed professionals, and small nonprofits that already use local foods may gain procurement preference. Important implementation details are missing—such as which exact agency implements the rules, how funding, enforcement, exceptions ("unless otherwise permitted"), and specific evidence‑based guidelines will be defined—so those open issues could affect timing, costs, and how easily vendors can participate.