The bill creates two new statutory sections directing the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to increase frontline child protective services (CPS) direct-service staff by 100 full-time equivalents (FTEs) by the end of the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium. The positions to be added are described as social workers and related staff who receive, refer, and respond to screened-in reports of child abuse or neglect, and counted positions are limited to those provided for in RCW 43.88.058(2). The bill defines “within existing resources” to mean the increase must be achieved by using reductions in staffing in DCYF’s program support appropriation in the 2025-2027 operating budget. This is a new-law, administrative and budgetary mandate that imposes a procedural change requiring DCYF to reallocate staffing and appropriations internally; it does not create a crime or change criminal penalties. The bill includes legislative findings that CPS is understaffed and that DCYF program support is overstaffed by more than 100 FTEs relative to the program’s base appropriation, and it adds New Section Sec. 1 (findings and intent) and New Section Sec. 2 (requirements). The bill was prefiled 12/10/25, read for the first time 01/12/26, and referred to the Committee on Human Services as S-3496.3 / Senate Bill 5866, 69th Legislature, 2026 Regular Session. The text of RCW 43.88.058(2), the specific appropriation amounts in the 2025-2027 operating budget, the cited child welfare workload study, and the exact calendar end date of the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium are not included in the extracted facts and therefore are not specified here.

If enacted, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families would be required to add 100 full‑time equivalent frontline child protective services staff who handle screened‑in reports of abuse or neglect by the end of the 2025–2027 biennium, and it must do that without new funding by reducing positions in its program support appropriation. Practically, that will shift staffing and money away from administrative or support roles and toward social workers and related direct‑service positions, which is likely to increase face‑to‑face response capacity and could lower caseload pressure for investigators or responders. The people most affected are DCYF managers and staff: program support employees are likely to face layoffs, reassignments, or reduced capacity as their positions are cut, while CPS frontline teams will face additional hiring, onboarding, and training demands. Because the bill limits which positions count to those listed in RCW 43.88.058(2) and does not include the appropriation numbers or the exact eligible job list here, it is unclear exactly which roles can be moved or how large the administrative impact and any short‑term service disruptions will be.