This bill amends RCW 49.46.300 and related sections and also amends RCW 46.72B.050 and 46.72B.190 to impose new rules on transportation network companies (TNCs) and drivers. It sets minimum compensation standards for dispatched trips effective December 31, 2022 and requires annual adjustments tied to the state minimum wage; it requires that tips be remitted to drivers and may not be counted toward minimum compensation, prohibits including tolls/fees remitted to drivers in minimum compensation calculations, and limits employer deductions from driver pay so that, beginning January 1, 2023, deductions (except as required by law) are allowed only with a driver’s voluntary, knowing, written advance authorization. The bill also bars TNCs and persons acting for them from deriving financial profit from specified deductions except in narrow circumstances (for example, reasonable interest on a loan), requires detailed electronic trip receipts and weekly pay summaries to drivers and passengers, and requires TNCs to begin remitting a per-trip payment to a driver resource center fund (RCW 49.46.310) beginning July 1, 2024 with inflation indexing thereafter. The bill creates detailed definitions and procedural protections: it defines account deactivation and eligible account deactivations, treats integrated enterprises as a single TNC where control factors indicate integration, and places the burden of proof on any party seeking to show that the statutory factors for independent contractor status are not met. It establishes a formal appeals process for eligible account deactivations using a just-cause standard, timelines for informal and binding resolution, a three-member arbitration panel with specified selection procedures, authority for the panel to award make-whole monetary remedies (including back pay under an agreed formula), and department review and approval of TNC agreements with a driver resource center. The bill requires driver notice of rights in multiple languages and provides for transmission and retention of receipts and downloadable records. The bill also amends fare and local regulation rules: it requires TNCs to provide fares or fare estimates and imposes caps on surge-type pricing (no more than 2.5 times the normal fare during the first seven days of a declared emergency and a 120 percent cap of driver pay during defined large-scale events), declares those practices subject to the state consumer protection act, and modifies state preemption of local regulation effective June 9, 2022 with specified grandfathered exceptions, retroactive limits on changes made between March 10 and June 9, 2022, and limited authority for airports and local governments to impose geofencing and certain contracts. Important details are missing from the extracted text: the bill’s specific per-minute, per-mile, and per-trip minimum rate amounts, the full statutory language of RCW 49.46.310–49.46.350 and the driver resource center fund mechanics, and portions of the appeals and deactivation procedures that were truncated in the provided excerpts.

If enacted, the bill would require ride-hailing companies to pay drivers at least a guaranteed minimum amount for trips (with annual adjustments tied to minimum wage increases), remit tips to drivers, stop taking most deductions without a driver’s written consent, and begin remitting a per-trip fee (starting $0.15 on July 1, 2024, then inflation-adjusted) to a new driver resource center fund. Companies must also give detailed electronic trip receipts to drivers and passengers within 24 hours, provide weekly and downloadable pay summaries, and offer drivers an organized appeals process with a just-cause standard for account deactivations; the state agency must approve any company agreement with the driver resource center. Drivers are most directly affected with stronger pay protections, clearer pay records, retained tips, and a formal way to appeal deactivations; driver resource centers gain a new funding stream and formal role. Transportation network companies face higher and more transparent pay obligations, new administrative and reporting duties, per-trip remittance costs, limits on profit from deductions, and potential liability or penalties for late remittance. Passengers gain more detailed receipts and some fare limits during emergencies or large events; local governments lose some regulatory authority over TNCs. Important implementation details are missing from the provided text—most notably the actual dollar rates for the guaranteed minimums and the complete deactivation appeal procedures—so the magnitude of cost and pay changes cannot be fully determined from these excerpts.