This bill creates a new section in chapter 18.71 RCW authorizing the Washington State Medical Commission to adopt rules that permit licensees to voluntarily relinquish licenses the commission issues. The rulemaking authority explicitly covers licenses issued under chapter 18.71 RCW and chapters 18.71A, 18.71B, 18.71C, and 18.71D RCW. The bill was referred to the Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce and was read for the first time on 01/26/26. The legal change is a procedural one: it establishes a voluntary relinquishment process (a new mechanism), makes relinquishment permanent with no right to reinstatement or renewal, and specifies that relinquishment is not an adverse action and is not reportable to disciplinary databases, the National Practitioner Data Bank, or other websites. The bill also bars relinquishment as a substitute for discipline and prohibits relinquishment when the licensee is subject to discipline or under investigation. The text provided does not include the implementing rules, forms, timelines, or procedures the commission would adopt, nor does it define key terms such as "license," "discipline," "under investigation," or "property right." No effective date, implementation schedule, or detailed list of specific license types covered beyond the cited chapters is included, so those details are uncertain from the supplied material.

If enacted, the Medical Commission would be allowed to create a voluntary process for people holding licenses issued under chapter 18.71 and chapters 18.71A–D to permanently give up those licenses. Those who use the process would not have the action treated as discipline and it would not be reported to disciplinary databases, the national practitioner data bank, or other websites, but they would permanently lose the property right in the license and could not later reinstate or renew it. The main practical effects are that license holders get a new way to exit their practice without a public disciplinary record, while the Commission must write rules to set up the process. The bill leaves out key implementation details—what the rules will say, exact timelines, definitions of terms like “under investigation,” which specific license types are covered, and an effective date—so the timing, administrative costs, and how the process will work in practice remain unclear.