This bill amends and reenacts the Title 50A definitions section (RCW 50A.05.010), and also amends RCW 50A.15.060 and RCW 50A.35.030. Its stated purpose is to safeguard Washington’s paid family and medical leave program by restricting “double-dipping” with employer‑paid benefits and by identifying methods to reduce errors and detect and deny fraudulent or otherwise ineligible claims. The bill also creates at least one new section and includes specified effective dates and an expiration date; the detailed double‑dipping restrictions themselves are not included in the extracted text. The amendments revise and clarify many definitions and procedural rules used throughout Title 50A. Changes shown include numeric thresholds and definitions for casual labor; expanded definitions of employee, employer, employment, family leave, medical leave, family member, parent, child, and health care provider; rules for what counts as remuneration (including treatment of negotiated settlements, and exclusions for tips and certain short military duty pay); the formula for an employee’s average weekly wage and the qualifying period for benefits; timing and content requirements for in‑person treatment visits and continuing treatment to establish a serious health condition; rules on substance abuse treatment and employer actions; typical workweek hours (hourly average or 40 hours for salaried employees); and how wages are treated for premium assessment and benefit payment. Some definitional text is incomplete in the provided excerpts (for example portions of the child and parent definitions and parts of the remuneration definition are cut off), and the specific text amending RCW 50A.15.060 and 50A.35.030 beyond general references is not included. The bill also changes enforcement and penalty procedures. It creates or adjusts penalties for repeat determinations of overpaid or deemed overpaid benefits by imposing additional disqualification periods and added percentage penalties on the overpaid amount: an additional penalty of 15 percent for a first occurrence, 25 percent for a second occurrence, and 50 percent for a third or subsequent occurrence, with the penalty receipts deposited into a family and medical leave enforcement account. The Employment Security Department is required to evaluate certification and documentation practices used to verify serious health conditions and other qualifying events, identify necessary changes to reduce errors and detect fraudulent or ineligible claims, and report findings and recommendations to the governor and appropriate legislative committees by November 1, 2026. Effective dates in the excerpts: Sections 1, 3, and 4 take effect January 1, 2027; Section 1 expires June 30, 2027; and Section 2 takes effect June 30, 2027. Missing or uncertain elements in the extracted text include the detailed double‑dipping restrictions, the precise duration of the additional disqualification for the first overpayment occurrence, and the full amended texts of the referenced RCW sections.

If enacted, the bill tightens and clarifies who counts as an employer, employee, or independent contractor for Washington’s paid family and medical leave, sets specific rules for counting wages and defining casual or infrequent work, and sets medical documentation and treatment timing standards for qualifying conditions. In practice this means some workers who had borderline eligibility (for example certain independent contractors or very irregular workers) may lose or gain coverage depending on whether they meet the clearer tests, employers may face changes in who must be covered and how wages are calculated for premiums and benefits, and health care or substance-abuse treatment documentation will matter more when employees apply for leave. The Employment Security Department must evaluate certification and documentation practices and report recommendations by November 1, 2026, so the department is likely to increase verification and deny or claw back ineligible claims; penalties for repeat overpayment escalate substantially (monetary penalties of 15%, 25%, and 50% and progressively longer disqualification periods, with penalties deposited into an enforcement account), increasing financial risk for claimants who are found to have misreported. The bill phases in changes (key sections take effect January 1, 2027, with some provisions expiring June 30, 2027 and others taking effect June 30, 2027), and some important details in the text provided are missing (for example the exact additional disqualification period for the first overpayment occurrence and complete amended language for certain sections), so the precise scope and timing of certain impacts remain uncertain.