Substitute House Bill 2505 amends RCW 70.128.030 to carve out specific residential settings and to create individualized exemptions from that chapter for certain former foster care providers. The amendment lists types of facilities that are exempt from the chapter (including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, facilities under chapter 71A.22 RCW, residential treatment centers for mental illness, hospitals, homes for individuals with developmental disabilities, and medical foster homes serving three or fewer veterans) and cites definitions such as medical foster home (38 C.F.R. 17.73), foster family home (RCW 74.15.020), personal care services (RCW 74.39A.009), and child-specific license (RCW 74.15.125). The bill creates individual exemptions for two categories of caregivers: (1) individuals with an active foster family home license for at least three years who provided personal care to the former foster youth for at least three years at the time the youth exited foster care, whose only unrelated adults receiving personal care in the home are the specified former foster youth, who have no founded or substantiated child protective services findings or final substantiated adult protective services findings, and who are not the subject of a pending or prior adverse licensing action under RCW 74.15.130 at the time the youth exited foster care; and (2) individuals approved for a child-specific license under RCW 74.15.125 who meet parallel conditions (the only unrelated adults receiving personal care are the specified former foster youth, no founded/substantiated CPS or final APS findings, and no pending or prior adverse licensing action under RCW 74.15.130 at the time the youth exited foster care). The Department (unnamed in this section) may adopt rules to implement the individual exemptions in subsection (2). The bill was requested by the Department of Social and Health Services and references the Department of Children, Youth, and Families for child-specific license approval and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for medical foster home oversight. Legislative action recorded: first read 01/30/2026, passed the House 02/12/2026, and passed the Senate 03/05/2026. The extracted text does not include the Governor’s signature or filing date, does not identify which department is authorized to adopt rules in this section, and does not include the broader chapter text, enforcement mechanisms, or any penalties that may apply elsewhere.

If enacted, the bill will let certain residential providers and a narrow group of former foster caregivers operate without being subject to the rules in the referenced chapter, which practically reduces regulatory oversight and compliance obligations for those providers. In particular, foster family home operators who had an active license for at least three years and who provided personal care to a youth for at least three years when the youth left foster care, and people approved for a child‑specific license who only provide care to that former youth, can be exempted so long as they have no founded child or adult protective services findings and no pending or prior adverse licensing action at the time the youth exits care. This likely lowers costs and administrative burdens for those caregivers and may make it easier for former foster youth to remain with the same caregivers after aging out, while shifting some rule‑writing and oversight work to state agencies (the Department named in the bill) to implement the exemptions. The bill also explicitly removes several facility types (nursing homes, assisted living, certain mental health and disability homes, hospitals, and small VA medical foster homes) from the chapter’s coverage, so those facilities will not face whatever obligations the chapter otherwise imposes. Important details are missing from the extract — notably which specific department has rulemaking authority, the full scope of the chapter being amended, and any broader enforcement or funding consequences elsewhere in law — so the exact administrative impacts and any effects on client protections cannot be fully determined from the provided text.