The bill would add a new chapter to Title 5 RCW creating an evidentiary rule for civil actions, arbitrations, and mediations against local governments for personal injuries. It makes inadmissible to establish a plaintiff’s damages any evidence of the amount billed for medical, hospital, or similar expenses, and instead allows plaintiff’s damages to be established by evidence of the amount actually paid for those expenses. The bill defines “local government” to include cities, towns, counties, special districts, municipal corporations, and quasi-municipal corporations, and defines “special district” with examples such as water-sewer districts, irrigation districts, fire districts, school and community college districts, hospital districts, transportation districts, and metropolitan municipal corporations organized under chapter 35.58 RCW. This is a procedural change to rules of admissibility of evidence in specified proceedings and would be enacted as a new statutory chapter (text presented as Sec. 1 and Sec. 2). The bill was read for the first time on 01/19/26 and was referred to the Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary. Important gaps in the provided text: no effective or operative date is given, the bill does not define how “amount actually paid” is determined or documented, it does not state exceptions or enforcement procedures, and it does not specify the new chapter number or how this change interacts with other evidence statutes.

If enacted, injured plaintiffs in lawsuits, arbitrations, or mediations against cities, counties, special districts, and similar local government entities would no longer be able to rely on the full medical bills as proof of their medical damage; recoverable medical damages would be limited to what was actually paid. That will likely reduce the dollar value of many claims and settlements because billed charges are often higher than negotiated or insurance-paid amounts, so local governments and their insurers can expect lower liability exposures and potentially lower settlement costs. The groups most affected are plaintiffs and their attorneys, who will need to document and prove actual payments, and local governments and their insurers, who are likely to pay less on medical damage claims. Important details are missing from the bill text provided: it does not define “amount actually paid,” set procedures for proving payments, give an effective date, or say how this change interacts with other evidence rules, so disputes about what counts as payment and how to prove it are likely until those details are resolved.