This bill amends RCW 39.04.350 to set specific criteria and procedures for determining a "responsible bidder" on public works contracts. It requires bidders at bid submittal to hold required contractor licensing/registration and a current state unified business identifier, and, where applicable, industrial insurance, Employment Security Department and state excise tax registrations. Bidders must not be disqualified under RCW 39.06.010 or RCW 39.12.065(3). For projects subject to apprentice utilization rules, bidders cannot have certain apprenticeship compliance findings in the one year before bid solicitation. Within specified lookback periods, bidders must either show recent public works project experience without citations or have a designated employee who completed L&I-approved prevailing wage/public works training within the previous three years. Bidders must not have a final and binding determination of willful violations of chapters 49.46, 49.48, or 49.52 RCW within the three years before bid solicitation; the term "willfully violated" is as defined in RCW 49.48.082. The bill makes procedural changes: the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) must publish information on its website so contracting agencies can verify many responsibility criteria, and L&I must keep and post records of persons who completed required training. Bidders must submit a signed statement under chapter 5.50 RCW verifying the absence of recent willful wage-related violations, and contracting agencies may reasonably rely on that sworn statement while checking other items via L&I’s website. For projects with apprentice utilization requirements, the awarded bidder must submit an apprentice utilization plan to the awarding agency within 60 days of award using an L&I-provided template; L&I must publish completed plans. The bill permits state or municipal agencies to adopt supplemental bidder responsibility criteria for particular projects and prescribes rules for including those criteria in bidding documents, responding to requests for changes before the bid deadline, requiring additional information, providing written reasons and an appeal process for not-responsible findings, and waiting two business days after a final not-responsible determination before executing a contract with another bidder. The capital projects advisory review board is directed to develop and post suggested guidelines. The act takes effect July 1, 2026. Affected entities identified include the Department of Labor and Industries, contracting and awarding agencies, bidders on public works, the Washington State apprenticeship and training council, the capital projects advisory review board, state registered apprenticeship programs and sponsors, and various licensing and employment/tax agencies referenced by statute. The extracted text references multiple other statutes (for example RCW 39.04.320 and chapters cited for licenses and training) whose full texts and definitions are not included here; specifics of the training curriculum and exact training length and details of prior statutory language that is being changed are not provided in the extracted facts.

If enacted, the law will make it routine for contractors bidding on Washington public works to prove they have the right licenses, a current state business identifier, necessary registrations and insurance where required, no recent willful wage-law violations, and either recent clean public-works experience or a designated employee who completed L&I-approved training within three years. Contractors who lack these items or who have recent wage or apprenticeship violations will face higher risk of being found “not responsible,” which can bar them from winning contracts for a period; some firms will likely need to pay for training, correct registrations, or improve compliance to remain eligible. L&I will publish verification data and training rosters online and must provide an apprentice utilization plan template; awarded contractors on projects with apprentice requirements must file a plan within 60 days and those plans will be posted publicly. State and local contracting agencies must use L&I’s published information to verify bidders, can add supplemental responsibility criteria if stated in bid documents, must respond to pre-bid requests to modify those criteria, and must provide written reasons and an appeal process before finalizing a “not responsible” finding; if a bidder is finally found not responsible, the agency must wait two business days before awarding the contract to someone else. These steps will add administrative work and a small potential delay to award timelines, and L&I will incur ongoing workload to maintain websites, templates, and training records. Important details needed to implement the rules—such as the exact training length, specific definitions in the referenced statutes, and the full text of related provisions cited—are not included here and will affect how strictly these requirements are applied.