This bill amends existing law (RCW 43.216.828 and a 2025 statute) to require that, beginning July 1, 2026, child care subsidy base rates for licensed or certified child care providers equal the 85th percentile of the market as measured by the most recent market rate survey published before May 20, 2025. It requires the state and the exclusive representative for family child care providers to bargain over implementation of the July 1, 2026 rate increase. The department named in the statute must develop and implement a child care cost estimate model, use it to recommend subsidy rates sufficient to cover the full cost of providing high quality child care, consider cost-of-living adjustments and a previously developed rate model for nonstandard hours, and evaluate options to support access to affordable health insurance for providers. The department must review and rebase child care rate regions to reflect regional cost differences, completing an initial review by August 1, 2026 and subsequent reviews every four years by August 1, with reports to the legislature in compliance with RCW 43.01.036. The bill also prohibits reducing any provider’s subsidy base rate from the prior year solely because of updated rate-region adjustments, and it preserves family child care providers’ collective bargaining rights under RCW 41.56.153. This is a modification of existing law that imposes procedural and fiscal policy requirements (rate-setting, modeling, regional rebasing, bargaining) rather than creating a new crime or changing criminal penalties. The extracted text does not identify which specific state department is assigned these duties, does not name the exclusive representative for family child care providers, does not include the market survey or its methodology, and does not provide the content of the nonstandard hours rate model or a definition of "licensed or certified child care providers."

If enacted, subsidy payments for licensed or certified child care providers would be raised on July 1, 2026 to match the 85th percentile of market rates from the most recent survey published before May 20, 2025, and the state must develop a new cost model to push rates toward covering the full cost of high‑quality care. The responsible agency must also review and more finely rebase regional rate adjustments by August 1, 2026 and every four years after, consider cost‑of‑living adjustments and nonstandard hours, evaluate ways to help providers get affordable health insurance, and report results to the legislature; no provider can be paid less simply because regions are recalculated, and the state must bargain with the exclusive representative for family child care providers about implementing the July 2026 increase. Most directly affected are licensed and certified child care providers and family child care providers, who are likely to see higher subsidy revenue and potential new supports for health coverage, and the state agency charged with the work, which will face new analytic, reporting, bargaining, and implementation responsibilities and likely higher budgetary costs for subsidies. The bill leaves key details unclear in this text, including which specific agency is “the department,” the exact market survey methodology, how providers are defined, and how bargaining or budget decisions will affect the timing or size of payments.