The bill creates a new state advisory council on rare diseases housed at the University of Washington School of Medicine by adding new sections to chapter 43.70 RCW. The Secretary of Health must appoint 12 voting members with specified representation: four clinicians/researchers with rare disease experience (including specified geographic representation east and west of the Cascade crest and a pediatric hospital representative), four Washington residents representing patients and caregivers and a patient advocacy organization, the director (or designee) of the Department of Health children and youth with special health care needs program, a Health Care Authority representative, and two life sciences industry representatives. The bill defines “rare disease” as a disease affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. Voting members serve three-year terms, may not serve more than three consecutive terms, and vacancies are filled in the same manner as original appointments; members may be reimbursed for travel under RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060. The council is advisory only, may not supersede local health jurisdiction authority during communicable disease outbreaks, selects its own chair, and must hold its first meeting no later than six months after the section’s effective date (the effective date is not provided in the extracted facts). A majority of members constitutes a quorum and a majority vote of a quorum is required for official action. The council’s duties include advising the Secretary of Health; coordinating study of incidence, prevalence, care quality, cost-effectiveness of early diagnosis/treatment, and access to services; identifying effective research-based diagnosis, treatment, and prevention strategies; making recommendations for education of medical providers, schools, and public health districts; developing public awareness strategies; and recommending a centralized public website or repository of information for patients, families, and caregivers. The University of Washington is to provide staff support, including physician leadership, subject to amounts appropriated. The council must report biennially beginning December 1, 2026, to the Governor and Legislature on its work and any recommended statutory changes. The extracted facts do not specify the section numbers added to chapter 43.70 RCW, the bill’s effective date, or the appropriation amounts or funding source for UW staff support; other related provisions or implementation details, if any, are not present in the provided facts.

If enacted, the bill will create a 12-member advisory council on rare diseases housed at the University of Washington School of Medicine that will study needs and make recommendations to the Secretary of Health on diagnosis, treatment, research, education, public awareness, and a centralized public information resource. In practice that means UW will need to host and staff the council (subject to a future appropriation), the Secretary must recruit specified clinicians, patient representatives, agency designees, and industry members with geographic balance, and members and agencies will spend time and incur modest travel and staffing costs to meet at least quarterly and produce a biennial report beginning December 1, 2026. The most affected actors are the University of Washington (responsible for staffing and leadership if funded), the Secretary of Health (responsible for appointments and receiving advice), Department of Health and Health Care Authority staff who serve on the council, hospitals, researchers, life sciences companies, and patient advocates who must serve time on the council, and the Governor and Legislature who will receive the reports. Key uncertainties that affect implementation are the bill’s unspecified effective date for convening the first meeting and the lack of any specific appropriation amounts, so the council’s actual start date and level of staffing depend on future funding decisions.