This bill establishes a new Washington false claims act as a new chapter in Title 7 RCW. It creates a civil cause of action (not a new criminal offense) for specified false or fraudulent claims for money or property involving the state, and it prescribes civil penalties and damages: a per-claim civil penalty between the greater of $14,308 or the inflation-adjusted minimum and the greater of $28,619 or the inflation-adjusted maximum (per 31 U.S.C. 3729(a)), plus treble damages equal to three times the state’s damages. The court may reduce the trebling to not less than two times damages if the defendant timely and fully disclosed all known information to the attorney general within 30 days, cooperated, and there was no pending prosecution or known investigation. The violator is also liable for the attorney general’s costs, and a violation is treated as an intentional act for purposes of insurer duty-to-defend and indemnify exclusions. The bill authorizes private qui tam actions by relators on the state’s behalf with procedures for sealed in-camera filings, service of a disclosure of material evidence to the attorney general, and a 60-day window (with extensions) for the attorney general to intervene, prosecute, dismiss, or settle; defendants need not respond until after unsealing. It sets relator award rules: if the attorney general proceeds, relators receive at least 15% and not more than 25% of proceeds (up to 10% in certain public-disclosure cases) plus reasonable expenses and attorneys’ fees; if the attorney general does not proceed and the relator conducts the action, the relator’s share is 25–30% plus expenses and fees. The act also creates whistleblower retaliation relief (reinstatement, twice back pay, interest, special damages including litigation costs and fees, and other remedies under RCW 49.60.030(2)) with a three-year limitations period. The bill adds investigatory and procedural tools: civil investigative demands (CIDs) with rules for contents, service, production, certificates, oral testimony and transcript handling, custodianship of materials, limited sharing, and judicial petitions to modify or enforce CIDs (with short filing deadlines). It includes limitations on relator participation, stays of discovery to protect ongoing investigations, rules on dismissal when claims were publicly disclosed unless the relator is an “original source,” a statute of limitations for civil actions (later of six years after violation or three years after responsible official knew, but no more than ten years), exemption of CID-produced materials from public inspection until final disposition, an annual reporting requirement to begin December 1, 2027, and an effective date of July 1, 2026. Some details are incomplete in the provided text: the exact new chapter number in Title 7 RCW is not specified, portions of Section 7 and other subsections were cut off, and several cross-referenced provisions appear only partially in the extracted facts. The summary above is limited to the provisions and definitions explicitly included in the extracted material.

If enacted, Washington would create a new state-level false claims law that makes people and entities who seek or receive state money much more exposed to large civil penalties and multiplied damage awards—potentially three times the harm plus statutory penalties (roughly $14,308–$28,619 adjusted as described), though courts can reduce trebled damages to double if a wrongdoer quickly and fully cooperates. The attorney general gains broad pre-suit investigative tools (civil investigative demands for documents, interrogatories, and testimony) with court-enforceable procedures and a requirement that materials gathered during investigations remain exempt from public disclosure while sealed; private whistleblowers can bring qui tam suits and receive a share of recoveries (generally 15–25% if the AG pursues, 25–30% if the AG declines), which is likely to increase whistleblower-driven litigation and settlement pressure on contractors, grantees, and other recipients of state funds. The groups most affected will be state contractors, grantees, local governments, and any business or person receiving or billing state funds—these parties face higher financial risk, potential uninsured exposure because insurers may deny coverage for intentional acts, and new compliance and litigation costs. The attorney general’s office will need resources to investigate, litigate, and begin annual public reporting on implementation (first report due December 1, 2027), while relators and their lawyers gain stronger incentives to bring cases. Important details are missing here—most critically the precise list of prohibited acts in section 3 and some procedural text cut off in the provided material—so the full scope of liability and some enforcement mechanics remain uncertain.