This bill (Substitute Senate Bill 6081, 69th Legislature, 2026) amends and adds provisions to existing law to restrict public access to and disclosure of records and supporting documentation related to changes in a person’s sex designation in government records, and to strengthen confidentiality and record-sealing requirements for vital records. It reenacts and amends RCW 42.56.230 to add categories of personal information exempt from public inspection and copying, adds a new section to chapter 46.20 RCW prohibiting the department from displaying, transmitting, or otherwise making available any record or supporting documentation of a person’s sex designation change except with that person’s consent for a specific purpose, and requires credentials and digital records issued after a sex designation change to show only the current sex designation with no indicator that a change occurred. The bill amends multiple RCWs governing driver licenses, enhanced licenses/identicards, and vital records (including RCW 46.20.091, 46.20.156, 46.20.157, and RCW 70.58A.500–.540, and reenacts/amends RCW 42.56.230). Key procedural changes include daily automated transmission of specified information to the secretary of state for certain enhanced license/identicard applicants, an annual no-charge electronic data file to Washington Technology Solutions containing information on adult licensed drivers and identicard holders (with names removed for certified participants in the state address confidentiality program), and explicit rules that records and supporting documentation of sex designation changes are “sensitive information” excluded from records transmitted to other jurisdictions except with consent (the department may charge a reasonable fee for transmittal absent consent). The state registrar is authorized to amend vital records to change sex designation (including adding a nonbinary option), to seal supporting documentation related to sex designation changes, to amend live birth names in certain circumstances, and to transfer custody of records to the state archives on specified multi-decade timelines; the state archives must keep sealed supporting documentation confidential and may not alter certification items. The bill clarifies who may receive certifications and informational copies of birth, death, fetal death, and related records, limits release of confidential birth-record information to the subject (with approved identity confirmation) or by court order, permits short-form death certifications under specified conditions, and requires written data-sharing agreements with confidentiality, purpose, security, ownership, and fee terms for many releases. It declares all vital records and related supporting information maintained by the department confidential and not subject to state or federal discovery, subpoenas, or other compulsory process, and contains an immediacy clause making the act effective immediately. The bill does not create a new crime; it preserves the existing penalty that a false statement on a driver’s license or instruction permit application constitutes false swearing, a gross misdemeanor under RCW 9A.72.040. Some details are not available in the extracted text: the specific identity of the referenced “department” is not stated here, full text of amendments to RCW 46.20.157 and the listed RCW 70.58A sections is not shown, and portions of several sections are truncated in the extracts provided.

If enacted, the bill would make records and any supporting documents about a person’s change of sex designation confidential, generally sealing those materials from public inspection, subpoenas, and routine interjurisdictional exchanges unless the person gives consent for a specific purpose. Credentials and digital records issued after a sex designation change must show only the current sex designation with no marker that a change occurred, and the state registrar is empowered to amend and seal vital records and supporting documentation while adding a nonbinary option. People who have sought or will seek sex designation changes would likely face much lower risk of having that history disclosed, and they gain the option to control sharing through consent. State agencies that handle driver and vital records would face new operational duties and some costs: they must exclude sex-change documentation from records sent to other jurisdictions (or charge a transmittal fee if consented), produce daily automated feeds to the secretary of state for enhanced credentials and an annual electronic file to Washington technology solutions (after removing address‑confidentiality program participants), develop a preservation policy and transfer rules for archives, and put tighter controls and written data‑sharing agreements around any releases. The text available does not identify exactly which agency is meant by “the department” in several places and omits some amended provisions, so who carries each specific responsibility and some implementation details are unclear from the provided excerpts. The act takes effect immediately.