This bill creates a new wage replacement program by adding a new chapter (to be codified as Title 50C RCW) and establishes a Washington wage replacement account in the state treasury to pay program costs and benefits. The employment security department must select a third-party administrator by July 1, 2026, to implement the program; applicants may file with that administrator beginning January 1, 2027. Weekly payments are set equal to the weekly benefit amount calculated under RCW 50.20.120, subject to fund availability, with a maximum per payment year equal to the lesser of 26 times the weekly amount or one-third of the applicant’s base year wages. Eligibility rules in the extracted text include Washington residency, 680 base-year hours, unemployment through no fault of the applicant, a one-week waiting period, and ineligibility for Title 50 RCW benefits solely because the worker was not authorized to work in the U.S. at the time of work; the third-party administrator must contract with community-based organizations for outreach and applicant assistance, but those organizations may not communicate with employers about applicant eligibility. An 11-member advisory committee is required to review implementation and utilization. The act creates new procedural and privacy rules and disqualification grounds. New sections disqualify applicants who voluntarily quit without good cause, were discharged for (gross) misconduct, or knowingly made false statements or withheld material facts, and disqualify weeks for which the applicant receives other unemployment, workers’ compensation, or disability benefits. The department and the third-party administrator are required to keep applicant information private and confidential, restrict the collection and retention of nationality, immigration, and identity-document details, prohibit contacting employers for verification, and forbid using collected information to investigate or assist federal immigration enforcement. The third-party administrator must destroy eligibility verification records within 15 days after an applicant no longer uses the program, create processes for reporting payment errors and handling overpayments, and the statute states there is no private right of action and the legislature may amend or repeal the chapter. The bill also amends existing law governing employer contributions and surtaxes. RCW 50.29.041 is amended to add a wage replacement program surcharge (0.01% for rate years 2026 and 2027; for rate years beginning in 2028 the commissioner sets the surcharge at the lowest rate necessary to fund the chapter subject to a combined cap with the rate in RCW 50.24.014(1)(a) not to exceed 0.08%). RCW 50.24.014 is amended to create two identifiable accounts in the administrative contingency fund—one to finance special programs to assist the unemployed and one to finance specified ESD administrative costs—with employer contribution mechanics and basic rates specified (each account funded at a basic rate of one one-hundredth of one percent under the extracted text). The act revises rules for employer contribution-rate calculations, including rounding rules, computation of total social cost and total taxable payroll, caps on combined employer rates, graduated social cost factor percentages by rate class, special treatment for small employers in 2023, solvency surcharge conditions, and penalties or higher rates for delinquent employers. Important operational details, definitions that reference other RCW sections, portions of some sections, certain tables, the cut-off and computation dates, and parts of the text are missing from the extracted material and are therefore not described here.

If enacted, the state would create a new wage replacement program and fund held in the state treasury that lets people who are otherwise excluded from regular unemployment (for example, because of work authorization issues) apply for weekly payments starting January 1, 2027. The Employment Security Department must hire a third-party administrator by July 1, 2026 to run the program, subcontract outreach and application help to community organizations, make payments within set weekly and annual caps, and run appeals; those community groups are barred from contacting employers. Strong privacy rules limit what personal and immigration-related information can be collected or shared, require quick destruction of eligibility records once a person stops using the program, and disqualify people only for things like quitting without good cause, misconduct, fraud, or receiving other overlapping benefits. The program is funded by small new employer contributions and by a wage replacement surcharge: a 0.01% surcharge on employer taxable payroll for rate years 2026 and 2027, with the commissioner setting future rates subject to a combined cap of 0.08%, and statutory changes create two identifiable accounts in the administrative contingency fund to pay program and administrative costs. Employers should expect a modest increase in payroll taxes and possible future adjustments; the Employment Security Department takes on oversight duties, including an 11‑member advisory committee. Important implementation details are missing from the provided text—such as some definitions, exact effective dates, cut-off/computation dates, and how the surcharge will be calculated after 2027—so the full scope of eligibility, funding levels, and employer impacts beyond the initial years is uncertain.