This bill amends RCW 28B.15.520 to expand and clarify when community and technical college governing boards may waive tuition and services/activities fees. It authorizes governing boards, subject to RCW 28B.15.910, to waive all or part of those fees for students who are eligible for resident tuition rates and who enroll in programs to finish high school and obtain a diploma or certificate but who are not "eligible students" under RCW 28A.600.405. The bill requires governing boards to waive all tuition and services/activities fees for children and surviving spouses of law enforcement officers, firefighters, or Washington State Patrol officers who lost their life or became totally disabled in the line of duty while employed in Washington; the child waiver applies only if the child begins college within ten years of high school graduation. It defines "totally disabled" as a person who has become totally and permanently disabled for life by bodily injury or disease and is thereby prevented from performing any occupation or gainful pursuit. Governing boards must report annually to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges on the cost of waived fees for these surviving spouses and children, and the state board must consolidate those reports and annually report to the legislature’s appropriate fiscal and policy committees. The bill also permits governing boards to waive all or part of the nonresident tuition differential for nonresident students enrolled in courses that lead to a high school diploma or certificate and allows waiving up to 40 percent of the nonresident differential in the regional education program for deaf students, subject to federal funding of that program. This is a modification of existing law (an amendment to RCW 28B.15.520) that creates specified fee-waiver authorities and reporting procedures and includes a statutory definition of "totally disabled." Several referenced definitions and limitations appear in other RCWs (for example, resident tuition eligibility, the term "eligible students," and limits in RCW 28B.15.910) and are not included here, so their full meaning and any related constraints are not determinable from these facts alone.

If enacted, community and technical college governing boards would be allowed—and in the case of children and surviving spouses of officers who died or became totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty, required—to waive tuition and services/activity fees for certain students finishing high school or earning a high school certificate, including waiving nonresident tuition differentials in some cases and up to 40% for the regional deaf education program if federal funding is available. Practically, eligible students in these groups would likely pay less or nothing for these programs, while colleges would see reduced tuition income for those students and take on the administrative work of applying waivers and tracking who qualifies (notably a child’s waiver must be used within ten years of high school graduation). The governing boards must report annually to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges on the cost of waiving fees for surviving spouses and children, and the state board must consolidate those reports for the legislature, which creates an ongoing reporting responsibility and some transparency about fiscal impacts. Key eligibility details and limits referenced in other statutes are not included here, so the precise scope of who qualifies, and how limitations in RCW 28B.15.910 apply, remain unclear.