This bill creates a new law by adding a section to chapter 70.48 RCW and also amends RCW 10.79.100 to require local jail administrators to develop and implement written policies and procedures for searching transgender and intersex people confined in county jails. Those local policies must, at minimum, comply with the new section and with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (34 U.S.C. §30301 et seq.) and its regulations as they existed on January 1, 2025, and must be adopted and implemented by September 1, 2025. The bill is a procedural and standards change governing how searches and physical examinations are conducted. It prohibits searches or physical exams performed solely to determine a confined person’s genital status, allows genital status to be determined by conversation, review of medical records, or as part of a private medical exam by a licensed medical practitioner, and requires training of security staff to conduct cross-gender searches and searches of transgender and intersex people in a professional, respectful, and least intrusive manner consistent with security. It sets specific allowable approaches for strip searches (for example, only by a medical professional; for adults, by female staff only; by staff matching the individual’s stated gender identity; or by asking the individual which gender of staff they prefer) and requires policies that permit showering, using the toilet, and changing clothes without nonmedical staff of the opposite gender viewing breasts, buttocks, or genitalia except in exigent circumstances or when viewing is incidental to routine cell checks. Opposite-gender staff must announce their presence when entering a housing unit, and lack of trained female staff is not an exigent circumstance justifying a cross-gender search. Searches by a person of a different gender are allowed only when exigent circumstances require immediate action. The bill affects local jail administrators, local jails, correctional and security staff, and medical practitioners who perform exams or searches. It references RCW 74.09.875 for the definition of “gender identity” and cites RCW 10.79.080, RCW 4.24.290, and RCW 7.70.040 regarding standards and liability for body cavity searches. The text provided omits the exact wording of RCW 74.09.875 (the definition of “gender identity”), the new section number in chapter 70.48 RCW, and precise definitions for terms used in the provision such as “exigent circumstances,” “opposite gender,” and “gender nonconforming,” so those specific details are uncertain from these extracts. No changes to criminal penalties are specified in the provided facts.

If enacted, local jails will need to create and put into practice new search and privacy policies for transgender and intersex people by September 1, 2025, and train correctional staff to follow them. That will likely mean an administrative burden to write policies, staff time and expense for training, and possibly higher operational costs from scheduling or hiring female staff or available medical practitioners to perform certain strip searches; security staff will have fewer routine options for conducting cross-gender searches and cannot search solely to determine genital status, so everyday search and housing routines will change. The people most affected are local jail administrators and correctional staff who must change practices and absorb training and staffing costs, medical practitioners who may be asked to perform examinations, and confined transgender, intersex, or gender nonconforming individuals who will gain stronger privacy protections. Important implementation details are missing from the provided text—most notably the exact definitions of “gender identity,” “exigent circumstances,” and related terms—so some day-to-day application and enforcement questions remain uncertain.