Modifies existing law (amends RCW 41.56.157) to designate the governor (or the governor's designee) as the public employer of language access providers solely for collective bargaining and to establish a limited collective bargaining framework between the governor and language access providers. The statute limits bargaining to specified economic and workplace subjects (wages/rates including tiered payments, reimbursements for missed/canceled appointments, professional development, labor-management committees, grievance procedures, health and welfare benefits, and other economic matters) and expressly excludes retirement benefits. It also prohibits strikes by language access providers and states that they are not state employees for any purpose other than collective bargaining under this section. The amendment defines bargaining structure and procedures: it confines appropriate bargaining units to three statewide units organized by types of interpreter services, requires exclusive representatives to be chosen by election under RCW 41.56.221, exempts bargaining authorization cards from public disclosure, permits consolidation or multiunit agreements, and makes mediation and interest arbitration provisions (RCW 41.56.501–41.56.540) applicable. The arbitration panel must consider the state's financial ability and any arbitration award is not binding on the legislature or the state if the legislature does not appropriate funds. The director of financial management must certify fund requests as feasible or reflective of a binding arbitration decision and such fund requests must be submitted by October 1 prior to the session; the legislature must approve or reject fund requests as a whole, and rejected or unacted-on requests require reopening the agreement solely to renegotiate funding. The bill adds implementation and administrative requirements: contractors and subcontractors providing covered language access services must annually provide lists of providers to the relevant departments (by January 30 each year), those departments must provide lists to a union on request, and certain agencies (DSHS, DCYF, L&I, Health Care Authority, DES) were required to report to the legislature by December 1, 2020 on procurement and implementation matters. It declares legislative intent to provide state action antitrust immunity for joint activities of language access providers and their exclusive bargaining representative to the extent authorized and states that a collective bargaining agreement prevails over executive orders, administrative rules, or agency policies relating to wages, hours, or other terms unless a CBA provision conflicts with statute. The text references definitions and prior provisions in RCW 41.56.030 and chapter 253, Laws of 2018, but those definitions and the prior statutory text are not included here, so exact changes from the prior version and the full definitions of "language access providers" and "collective bargaining" cannot be determined from the provided material.

If enacted, the governor (or the governor’s designee) would be the official counterparty for collective bargaining with spoken language interpreters and similar language access providers, who would be organized into three statewide bargaining units. Those providers could bargain over pay, tiered rates, reimbursements for missed or canceled appointments, training, health and welfare benefits, grievance procedures and related economic matters, but they could not bargain over retirement and are prohibited from striking. Arbitration is allowed but any arbitration award still depends on the director of financial management certifying fund requests as feasible and on the legislature approving funding in the budget; if the legislature rejects or fails to act on funding, the agreement must be reopened to renegotiate funding, and declared revenue shortfalls would force immediate bargaining to reduce costs. The biggest practical effects fall on language access providers (who gain collective bargaining rights but face limits and funding uncertainty), the governor’s office (which must negotiate and submit certified budget requests by October 1), state agencies (DSHS, DCYF, L&I, DES, Health Care Authority) and their contractors (who must provide annual lists of providers by January 30 and give those lists to unions on request), and the Legislature (which retains final funding control). It is unclear from the provided text exactly which workers meet the undefined term “language access providers,” how past dates and prior statutory changes interact with this amendment, and how certain implementation details will be handled.