This bill amends RCW 41.80.200 to provide interest arbitration as an alternative way to settle collective bargaining disputes for employees of the Department of Corrections who are covered by chapter 41.06 RCW. The amendment excludes confidential employees (as defined in RCW 41.80.005) and internal auditors, and it removes the prior exclusion of members of the Washington management service. It is a change to existing law that expands arbitration procedures and modifies the list of excluded employee groups. The amended section imposes negotiation and impasse procedures: bargaining must begin at least five months before the governor’s budget submission; if no agreement is reached within 60 days either party may declare impasse and seek mediation from the commission; if impasse remains and the director finds impasse after mediation, the dispute may go to interest arbitration. The bill sets deadlines and procedures for selecting and scheduling an arbitrator, requires written agreements naming the arbitrator and hearing dates, requires reservation of hearing dates, allocates costs (shared for arbitrator, court reporter, and hearing room; each party pays its own advocates), limits arbitrable issues to those subject to bargaining under specified RCW provisions, lists factors the arbitrator must consider, requires arbitration proceedings to be informal and recorded, allows subpoenas and superior court enforcement, and makes arbitrator awards final and enforceable in superior court but not binding on the legislature if it does not approve necessary funding. The text supplied does not define "internal auditors," does not reproduce the definitions or content of the cited provisions in RCW 41.80.020(1), (2), (3), RCW 41.80.040, or RCW 41.80.010(3), and does not identify the full statutory name or composition of the "commission" referenced, so those specifics are unclear from the provided material. The bill was prefiled 12/13/24 and read for the first time 01/13/25.

If enacted, many Department of Corrections employees covered by chapter 41.06 RCW would gain a formal interest arbitration path to resolve contract impasses, meaning bargaining units and the governor’s designee must follow a tight schedule of negotiations, mediation, and, if needed, arbitration with shared hearing costs and each side paying its own legal expenses. Confidential employees and internal auditors remain excluded, and the apparent removal of the prior exclusion for Washington management service members suggests more managers may become eligible; parties must reserve hearing windows, pick an arbitrator from an FMCS list on a set timetable, and keep existing wages and conditions unchanged during proceedings. This change gives unions stronger, structured leverage to obtain binding settlements on many contract issues, but any arbitration award that requires new state funding for pay or fringe benefits still depends on the legislature approving those funds, so employees face a real risk that awarded compensation may not be paid if not appropriated. The extract does not define “confidential employees” or “internal auditors,” nor does it include the full list of non-arbitrable subjects or the commission’s detailed authority, so exactly who qualifies and which topics can be forced into arbitration is partly uncertain.