This bill amends chapter 43.42A RCW, integrates Executive Order 25-03 into law, and adds new sections to that chapter. It primarily makes procedural and transparency changes for state agencies that issue credentials by requiring agencies to track and report processing times and application counts, to publish decision-time targets for credentials, and to participate in a statewide, central online credential catalog maintained by the Office for Regulatory Innovation and Assistance (the office). The changes apply to the named executive branch agencies and other cabinet agencies designated by the governor, and to applications received, determined complete, or decided on or after January 1, 2025. Key procedural requirements include annual data submission to the office by March 1 on prior-calendar-year activity, calculation of processing times in calendar days, and consistency of reported information with the credential catalog. Agencies may exclude days attributable to circumstances outside their control if they identify the reason, and may exclude an application from reporting only with office approval and documented justification. The office must establish technical standards and guidance, post a comprehensive progress report and a searchable, machine-readable credential catalog, and beginning with the 2027 reporting period identify credentials most improved and most in need of improvement. The bill also requires cabinet agencies with sufficient resources to set and publish decision-time targets for increasing percentages of their credentials by specified dates (25% by Jan 1, 2027; 50% by Jan 1, 2028; 75% by Jan 1, 2029; 100% by Jan 1, 2030). It creates a narrow refund obligation: unless prohibited by statute, an agency must refund an application fee if it fails to meet a published decision time for a completed application, with specified exclusions (for example, certain fees under RCW 80.50.071) and reporting of refunds as part of agency performance data. The changes are administrative and procedural rather than criminal; they create reporting duties, a central catalog, published timing requirements, and a limited fee-refund remedy. The text provided is incomplete in places: the remainder of amended RCW 43.42A.030 is missing, the specific data elements required under section 6(1) are not included, and the cited RCW 43.42A.030(2)(k) language (defining “published decision time”) is not provided here, so some implementation details are unclear.

If enacted, state agencies that issue permits, licenses, or certifications will have to start measuring and publicly reporting how long completed credential applications take to get a final decision and to keep a central, searchable catalog of those credentials. Agencies with enough existing staff or budget will need to set published decision-time goals for increasing shares of their credentials between 2027 and 2030, keep catalog entries up to date when fees or rules change, submit annual processing data to the Office for Regulatory Innovation and Assistance by March 1 for the prior year (covering actions on or after Jan 1, 2025), and identify reasons when delays are outside their control. The Office will run the statewide catalog, post progress reports, and can publish agency reports to the legislature. The people most affected are agency program managers and staff who will take on new tracking, reporting, and catalog-maintenance work, potentially requiring reallocation of time or money and creating a risk of refunds to applicants if published decision times are missed (which could increase agency costs unless statutes prohibit refunds or the office grants exceptions). Applicants are likely to get clearer expectations about how long approvals will take and may receive fee refunds if agencies miss published times. Some implementation details are unclear from the provided text—notably exactly which data elements agencies must submit, how “published decision time” is defined in full, and how “sufficient existing resources” will be determined—so the scale of the administrative burden and the size of potential refund liability are uncertain.