This bill would create a new statutory section in chapter 70A.388 RCW and amend RCW 70A.388.040 to limit the Department of Health’s rulemaking authority as to ionizing radiation screening systems used in correctional facilities, detention facilities, and jails. The new section sets specific numeric radiation thresholds and requires that an ionizing radiation screening system be permitted to operate at an effective dose of at least 2 µSv (0.2 mrem) per screening. It also sets a total effective dose per calendar year for an incarcerated or confined individual at not less than 0.25 mSv (25 mrem) and a radiation level outside the radiation screening zone of not less than 20 µSv (2 mrem) in any one hour. When a system meeting these standards is installed and operated according to manufacturer specifications, the system is deemed compliant with the radiation limits for the area outside the screening zone. Legally, the change is the creation of a new regulatory standard and a constraint on the Department of Health’s existing regulatory authority: DOH, as the designated state radiation control agency, may not adopt rules or other limits that are more restrictive than the thresholds set in the new section. The bill includes statutory definitions for terms such as correctional facility, detention facility, jail, ionizing radiation screening system, and radiation screening zone. It references existing statutes for some definitions and mentions the state radiological control officer and affected entities (DOH, correctional/detention/jail facilities, incarcerated or confined individuals, and staff). Important gaps in the provided text: the new section number is not supplied; the bill text refers to December 2024 DOH rules and to incidents and overdoses but does not include those rules, any supporting data, or descriptions of incidents; and the document does not provide implementation details such as how permitting, enforcement, inspections, monitoring, or funding would work. The bill was prefiled on 01/02/26 and read for the first time on 01/12/26 and was referred to the Committee on Health Care & Wellness.

If enacted, the bill fixes specific numeric radiation dose thresholds for scanners used in jails, detention centers, and correctional facilities and stops the Department of Health from imposing stricter limits than those numbers. That means facilities can operate ionizing radiation screening systems that meet the stated dose thresholds (including a per‑screening level of 2 µSv, an annual individual limit of 0.25 mSv, and an outside‑zone hourly level of 20 µSv) and, when installed and run to manufacturer specs and those standards, are treated as meeting the outside‑zone radiation limits. The most affected parties are the Department of Health, correctional and detention facilities, and incarcerated or confined people and staff. DOH would have less room to tighten rules, so facilities likely face fewer regulatory obstacles or equipment changes if previous DOH rules had been tighter, which could lower compliance costs for facilities; at the same time incarcerated people and staff could experience exposures at the set levels rather than lower ones. The text does not include details on enforcement, permitting changes, monitoring, funding, or the December 2024 DOH rules it references, so how inspections, permits, or long‑term oversight would change is unclear.