This bill adds a new section to chapter 71A.20 RCW that creates a procedural notice requirement when a residential habilitation center is found out of compliance with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) conditions of participation or requirements. The secretary or the secretary’s designee must provide the required notice within 10 days after the department receives notice of noncompliance. Required notice content includes the initial statement of deficiencies or other noncompliance determination, the reason(s) for the finding, a plain language summary of the nature of the noncompliance and potential impact on resident safety, any plan of correction, and all later determinations about return to compliance or related enforcement action. The bill specifies how notice must be delivered: prominent posting at the facility until CMS is satisfied the violation is corrected, written or email notice to individuals associated with residents as listed in RCW 71A.10.060 (in the recipient’s preferred language if indicated), and email or other electronic delivery to relevant committees of the legislature within existing resources. Posted notices must be in English and in any alternative languages requested by residents; postings must be in plain view of residents, visitors, and inquirers about placement. This is a procedural and transparency change that creates a new statutory notice duty; it does not create a new crime or change penalties in the extracted text. The document does not name which department is meant, does not identify the specific legislative committees to receive electronic notice, does not provide the exact new RCW subsection number, and once uses the term “residential habitation center” which may be a typographical variation of “residential habilitation center.” No new definitions or additional cross-references are provided in the extracted facts.

If enacted, facilities that operate residential habilitation centers would have to have any CMS finding of noncompliance publicly and promptly announced: the agency head must issue a notice within 10 days that explains the deficiencies, why they happened, how they might affect resident safety, and any plan to fix them, and that notice must be posted in plain sight at the facility until CMS says the problem is fixed. Families or other people tied to residents must also get written or email notice in their preferred language, and legislative committees must be emailed; this will increase transparency and create immediate reputational pressure on centers while adding recurring administrative work to prepare, translate, post, and send these notices. The organizations most affected are residential habilitation centers (reputational risk, more public scrutiny, and new staffing or translation costs), the unnamed department and its secretary or designee (new duties to issue notices within 10 days), residents and their families (better and more timely information), and legislative committees (electronic notices within current resources). The text leaves important details unclear — it does not name which department must act, which legislative committees get notices, or clarify a likely typographic mix-up between “habilitation” and “habitation” — so the timing, responsible office, and exact implementation steps could be uncertain until those gaps are resolved.