This bill creates a new certification and prescriptive authority for a "prescribing psychologist" by adding sections to chapter 18.83 RCW and amending related statutes. It directs the examining board of psychology to certify psychologists who meet specified education, supervised clinical experience, and examination requirements (including a doctorate, a designated master's-level program in clinical psychopharmacology, at least 80 hours of supervised physical assessment, a supervised clinical prescribing fellowship of at least 500 hours treating at least 100 patients, and passage of a board-approved national examination). The board may waive certain requirements or certify by endorsement in specified circumstances, must adopt rules for certification, discipline, renewal in accordance with RCW 18.83.090, and must include an expert in psychiatric prescribing on the board. Holders of a prescribing psychologist certificate must complete continuing education relevant to prescriptive authority during each three-year renewal period. The bill establishes the scope and limits of prescriptive authority as a regulatory change: prescribing psychologists may prescribe, administer, discontinue, and distribute psychotropic medications recognized or customarily used to treat disorders identified by a classification system chosen by the board, and may order necessary laboratory tests and imaging. It imposes substantive limits and procedures: they must maintain an ongoing collaborative relationship with a health care practitioner who oversees the patient’s general medical care and, by board rule to be determined by January 1, 2027, may not issue a new prescription without that practitioner’s agreement; they may not prescribe opioid medications except those appropriate for opioid use disorder, may not prescribe any antipsychotic medication or mood stabilizer, may not prescribe to persons under age 25 or over age 65, must record each prescription in the patient record, and may not delegate prescriptive authority. The act also amends several controlled substance and pharmacy definitions and statutes (including reenactment/amendment of RCW 18.64.011 and amendments to RCW 69.41.010 and RCW 69.41.030), explicitly recognizing prescribing psychologists as practitioners in those contexts, and revises nursing delegation rules in RCW 18.79.260 to allow RNs to delegate certain tasks to certified nursing assistants or certified home care aides under specified training, supervision, and competency verification while prohibiting delegation of certain procedures (with limited exception for insulin injections subject to board rule), preserving nurse accountability and limited immunity. It changes criminal and prosecutorial procedures for public possession and use of legend drugs: sale, delivery, or possession with intent to sell or deliver in public is a class B felony; knowing possession or knowing use in a public place is a misdemeanor with prosecutorial encouragement of diversion to assessment or treatment and law enforcement guidance to offer referrals in lieu of arrest; a person may not be charged with both possession and use for the same conduct. Sections of the act carry specific delayed effective and expiration dates noted in the bill. Important context is missing in the provided extracts: the full text of section 3 (certain certification standards and related rules) and section 4 (specific restrictions referenced for prescribing psychologists) are not included here, some administrative fee and renewal language is cut off, and two differing versions of certain amendments appear without clarification. Where those missing sections or cut-off passages affect scope or implementation, this summary notes uncertainty.

If enacted, a subset of Washington psychologists who invest in an additional multi-year education sequence (a designated master’s didactic program of at least two years or 400 contact hours), about 80 hours of supervised physical assessment, a 500-hour clinical prescribing fellowship treating at least 100 patients, and a board‑approved competency exam can add limited authority to prescribe psychotropic medications for certain mental health disorders. Those psychologists will face new ongoing responsibilities and costs: upfront time and tuition for the coursework and fellowship, exam and certification fees set by the secretary of health, mandatory continuing education tied to their three‑year renewals, tighter recordkeeping for every prescription, and a required formal collaboration with whoever oversees the patient’s general medical care; they also cannot prescribe to people under 25 or over 65 and are barred from prescribing antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and most opioids (except medication for opioid use disorder), which limits how they can be used in practice. State boards and health agencies will need to add staff and procedures to certify, examine, renew, and oversee these prescribing psychologists, revise rules, and track certifications; pharmacies and other practitioners will treat prescribing psychologists as authorized prescribers under controlled‑substance and legend‑drug rules. The bill also changes nurse delegation rules—allowing certain tasks to be delegated to certified home care aides or nursing assistants under RN supervision—and tightens possession/use rules for legend drugs in public places with misdemeanor and diversion options, which may shift some enforcement and public‑health resources. Important details are missing from the extracted text (notably the full restrictions referenced in section 4 and the complete administrative fee and renewal language), so exact timelines, fee amounts, and some operational limits remain uncertain.