This bill modifies existing law. It amends multiple Washington statutes (including RCW 43.09.020, RCW 70.225.040, RCW 50A.25.070, RCW 13.50.050, and RCW 13.50.100) to change procedures for access to and disclosure of confidential records for audits, prescription monitoring, and juvenile and child welfare records. It is a procedural change expanding and specifying who may receive or inspect certain confidential records and under what conditions; it does not create a new crime or state any new criminal penalties in the extracted text. On prescription monitoring program data, the bill keeps the data confidential generally but expressly permits the department administering the program to provide data to enumerated recipients (including the Office of the Washington State Auditor and the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee), to provide certain facility or prescriber reports at least quarterly under stated conditions, to share deidentified or limited datasets for research with IRB and data‑sharing agreements, and to enter data‑sharing agreements with other jurisdictions subject to retention, protection, and destruction terms. The bill also provides immunity for persons acting in good faith under the program provisions, and it allows the department to disclose confidential information to specified state or local agencies for official purposes upon written application and verification. The extracted text omits the department’s name in some places and cuts off parts of subsection (6), so some specifics about interstate data exchange and other enumerated recipients or conditions are incomplete. Regarding juvenile and child welfare records, the bill amends confidentiality and access rules: the official juvenile court file remains open unless sealed, other juvenile records are confidential with defined exceptions for sharing among juvenile system participants, and victims or their families may request certain identifying information in limited circumstances. It authorizes the Department of Children, Youth, and Families or DSHS to release certain child protective services investigation information to family or juvenile courts in custody petitions under specified conditions (limited to investigations after October 1, 1998), allows some contractor providers to disclose records to the Office of the Family and Children's Ombuds without consent in specific circumstances, requires removal of juvenile records from the judicial information system when the juvenile is no longer subject to compulsory attendance, and limits county clerk liability for unauthorized releases by outside parties. The Office of the Washington State Auditor and the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee are explicitly authorized to examine confidential records for audit purposes, with access not altering the records’ confidential status. Some subsections and introductory text are missing from the extracted facts, so further details and cross‑references are unclear.

If enacted, the state auditor and the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee would have clear authority to inspect confidential records held by a wide range of state programs—most notably the prescription monitoring program and juvenile and child welfare records—so those audit bodies will be able to obtain data necessary for audits while still being legally required to keep the material confidential. Agencies that run these programs (the unnamed “department” that operates the prescription monitoring program, DCYF, DSHS, juvenile courts, county clerks, and other listed state and local offices) will need to produce records on request, maintain or create written application/verification processes and data‑sharing agreements, provide periodic prescriber/facility reports for internal quality improvement, and follow IRB and agreement rules for research uses; that will increase administrative work and modest compliance costs, and change how program staff handle requests and consent, though individuals and agencies acting in good faith under the provisions get immunity from liability. For juvenile and child protective services records, the bill clarifies when CPS information can be released to family or juvenile courts in custody matters, preserves rights for juveniles, parents, and attorneys to access records with specific exceptions, requires removal of juvenile records from the judicial information system once the youth is no longer subject to school attendance laws, and protects county clerks from liability for disclosures by outside parties; this likely means courts, attorneys, and parents will see expanded access in some cases and agencies must track and respond to access requests promptly or face court-ordered remedies (attorney fees and potential per‑day damages) if they wrongly deny access. Important details are missing from the extracted text—most notably the exact identity of the “department” referenced in some sections and the full language of several subsections governing interstate data exchanges and who precisely qualifies for certain disclosures—so the scope of some obligations and limits remains uncertain.