Senate Bill 5566 would amend the statute for third-degree assault (RCW 9A.36.031) by enumerating specific circumstances that constitute third-degree assault and by treating most third-degree assaults as a class C felony while making the assaults described in subsections (1)(g) and (h) class B felonies. The bill also imposes a minimum mandatory term of total confinement of 180 days for a person convicted of assaulting a law enforcement officer in furtherance of a riot or unlawful assembly (chapter 9A.84 RCW). The bill reenacts and amends the sentencing guideline statute (RCW 9.94A.515) to include an updated Table 2 listing crimes by seriousness level, and it places “Assault 3 (of a Law Enforcement Officer or Employee and Assault 3 of a Peace Officer with a Projectile Stun Gun) (RCW 9A.36.031(1)(g) and (h))” in Level V. The text adds definitions for terms such as nurse, physician, health care provider, gamete, and reproductive material, and it identifies numerous protected classes of workers and locations covered by the assault provisions (for example, law enforcement, transit and school transportation personnel, firefighters, health care providers, judicial officers and court spaces, and licensed providers performing assisted reproduction). This summary is based on the provided excerpt only. The bill text in the excerpt is incomplete: the Table 2 listing is partial and the remainder of the bill, including any additional amendments, full sentencing grid details, numeric penalty ranges, effective dates, or fiscal information, is not included here.

If enacted, the bill broadens the kinds of actions treated as third‑degree assault and specifically raises the seriousness and penalties for assaults against many public safety and service workers—especially assaults on law enforcement or peace officers (including with a projectile stun gun), which are listed at a higher seriousness level and, if committed in furtherance of a riot or unlawful assembly, carry a mandatory minimum 180 days of confinement. People most directly affected are law enforcement officers and their agencies, transit and school transportation workers, firefighters and fire department staff, health care workers (including nurses, physicians, and certain assisted‑reproduction providers), and court personnel; prosecutors will likely charge more of these cases under the higher offense classifications and convicted defendants will face stiffer penalties and longer mandatory incarceration in those specific circumstances. The change also likely increases pressure on county and state correctional resources and on court sentencing practices because more cases could result in higher‑level felony convictions and a guaranteed 180‑day confinement in the riot‑related scenario, which would raise detention costs and affect local budgets. Important details are missing from the provided text—most of the new sentencing table, any overall sentencing grid, effective dates, and fiscal notes—so the exact scope of increased sentences and the budgetary impact cannot be determined from these facts alone.