Language access providers

AN ACT Relating to language access providers' collective 1
bargaining; and amending RCW 41.56.157. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 41.56.157 and 2020 c 289 s 2 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
(1) In addition to the entities listed in RCW 41.56.101, this 6
chapter applies to the governor with respect to language access 7
providers. Solely for the purposes of collective bargaining and as 8
expressly limited under subsections (2) and (3) of this section, the 9
governor is the public employer of language access providers who, 10
solely for the purposes of collective bargaining, are public 11
employees. The governor or the governor's designee shall represent 12
the public employer for bargaining purposes. 13
(2) There shall be collective bargaining, as defined in RCW 14
41.56.030, between the governor and language access providers, except 15
as follows: 16
(a) The only units appropriate for purposes of collective 17
bargaining under RCW 41.56.211 are: 18
(i) A statewide unit for language access providers who provide 19
spoken language interpreter services for department of social and 20
H-2478.1
HOUSE BILL 2190
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Cortes, Low, Leavitt, Parshley, Ryu, Doglio,
Simmons, Schmidt, Timmons, Berry, Ortiz-Self, Reed, Mena, Obras,
Santos, Zahn, Thomas, Gregerson, Ormsby, Goodman, Fosse, Salahuddin,
Hill, and Pollet
Prefiled 12/23/25. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Labor & Workplace Standards.
p. 1 HB 2190
health services appointments, department of children, youth, and 1
families appointments, or medicaid enrollee appointments;2
(ii) A statewide unit for language access providers who provide 3
spoken language interpreter services for injured workers or crime 4
victims receiving benefits from the department of labor and 5
industries; and 6
(iii) A statewide unit for language access providers who provide 7
spoken language interpreter services for any state agency through the 8
department of enterprise services, excluding language access 9
providers included in (a)(i) and (ii) of this subsection;10
(b) The exclusive bargaining representative of language access 11
providers in the unit specified in (a) of this subsection shall be 12
the representative chosen in an election conducted pursuant to RCW 13
41.56.221. 14
Bargaining authorization cards furnished as the showing of 15
interest in support of any representation petition or motion for 16
intervention filed under this section are exempt from disclosure 17
under chapter 42.56 RCW; 18
(c) Notwithstanding the definition of "collective bargaining" in 19
RCW 41.56.030(4), the scope of collective bargaining for language 20
access providers under this section is limited solely to: (i) 21
Economic compensation, such as the manner and rate of payments, 22
including tiered payments , and payments or reimbursements for 23
appointments missed or canceled by a party other than the language 24
access provider ; (ii) professional development and training; (iii) 25
labor-management committees; (iv) grievance procedures; (v) health 26
and welfare benefits; and (((vii) [(vi)])) (vi) other economic 27
matters. Retirement benefits are not subject to collective 28
bargaining. By such obligation neither party may be compelled to 29
agree to a proposal or be required to make a concession unless 30
otherwise provided in this chapter; 31
(d) In addition to the entities listed in the mediation and 32
interest arbitration provisions of RCW 41.56.501 through 41.56.540, 33
the provisions apply to the governor or the governor's designee and 34
the exclusive bargaining representative of language access providers, 35
except that: 36
(i) In addition to the factors to be taken into consideration by 37
an interest arbitration panel under RCW 41.56.530, the panel shall 38
consider the financial ability of the state to pay for the 39
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compensation and benefit provisions of a collective bargaining 1
agreement; 2
(ii) The decision of the arbitration panel is not binding on the 3
legislature and, if the legislature does not approve the request for 4
funds necessary to implement the compensation and benefit provisions 5
of the arbitrated collective bargaining agreement, the decision is 6
not binding on the state; 7
(e) Language access providers do not have the right to strike;8
(f) If a single employee organization is the exclusive bargaining 9
representative for two or more units, upon petition by the employee 10
organization, the units may be consolidated into a single larger unit 11
if the commission considers the larger unit to be appropriate. If 12
consolidation is appropriate, the commission shall certify the 13
employee organization as the exclusive bargaining representative of 14
the new unit; 15
(g) If a single employee organization is the exclusive bargaining 16
representative for two or more bargaining units, the governor and the 17
employee organization may agree to negotiate a single collective 18
bargaining agreement for all of the bargaining units that the 19
employee organization represents. 20
(3) Language access providers who are public employees solely for 21
the purposes of collective bargaining under subsection (1) of this 22
section are not, for that reason, employees of the state for any 23
other purpose. This section applies only to the governance of the 24
collective bargaining relationship between the employer and language 25
access providers as provided in subsections (1) and (2) of this 26
section. 27
(4) Each party with whom the department of social and health 28
services, the department of children, youth, and families, the 29
department of labor and industries, and the department of enterprise 30
services contracts for language access services and each of their 31
subcontractors shall provide to the respective department an accurate 32
list of language access providers, as defined in RCW 41.56.030, 33
including their names, addresses, and other contact information, 34
annually by January 30th, except that initially the lists must be 35
provided within thirty days of July 1, 2018. The department shall, 36
upon request, provide a list of all language access providers, 37
including their names, addresses, and other contact information, to a 38
labor union seeking to represent language access providers.39
(5) This section does not create or modify: 40
p. 3 HB 2190
(a) The obligation of any state agency to comply with federal 1
statute and regulations; and 2
(b) The legislature's right to make programmatic modifications to 3
the delivery of state services under chapter 74.04 or 39.26 RCW or 4
Title 51 RCW. The governor may not enter into, extend, or renew any 5
agreement under this chapter that does not expressly reserve the 6
legislative rights described in this subsection. 7
(6) Upon meeting the requirements of subsection (7) of this 8
section, the governor must submit, as a part of the proposed biennial 9
or supplemental operating budget submitted to the legislature under 10
RCW 43.88.030, a request for funds necessary to implement the 11
compensation and benefit provisions of a collective bargaining 12
agreement entered into under this section or for legislation 13
necessary to implement the agreement. 14
(7) A request for funds necessary to implement the compensation 15
and benefit provisions of a collective bargaining agreement entered 16
into under this section may not be submitted by the governor to the 17
legislature unless the request has been: 18
(a) Submitted to the director of financial management by October 19
1st prior to the legislative session at which the requests are to be 20
considered, except that, for initial negotiations under this section, 21
the request may not be submitted before July 1, 2011; and22
(b) Certified by the director of financial management as 23
financially feasible for the state or reflective of a binding 24
decision of an arbitration panel reached under subsection (2)(d) of 25
this section. 26
(8) The legislature must approve or reject the submission of the 27
request for funds as a whole. If the legislature rejects or fails to 28
act on the submission, any collective bargaining agreement must be 29
reopened for the sole purpose of renegotiating the funds necessary to 30
implement the agreement. 31
(9) If, after the compensation and benefit provisions of an 32
agreement are approved by the legislature, a significant revenue 33
shortfall occurs resulting in reduced appropriations, as declared by 34
proclamation of the governor or by resolution of the legislature, 35
both parties shall immediately enter into collective bargaining for a 36
mutually agreed upon modification of the agreement.37
(10) After the expiration date of any collective bargaining 38
agreement entered into under this section, all of the terms and 39
conditions specified in the agreement remain in effect until the 40
p. 4 HB 2190
effective date of a subsequent agreement, not to exceed one year from 1
the expiration date stated in the agreement. 2
(11) In enacting this section, the legislature intends to provide 3
state action immunity under federal and state antitrust laws for the 4
joint activities of language access providers and their exclusive 5
bargaining representative to the extent the activities are authorized 6
by this chapter. 7
(12) By December 1, 2020, the department of social and health 8
services, the department of children, youth, and families, the 9
department of labor and industries, the health care authority, and 10
the department of enterprise services must report to the legislature 11
on the following: 12
(a) Each agency's current process for procuring spoken language 13
interpreters and whether the changes in chapter 253, Laws of 2018 14
have been implemented; 15
(b) If chapter 253, Laws of 2018 has not been fully implemented 16
by an agency, the barriers to implementation the agency has 17
encountered and recommendations for removing the barriers to 18
implementation; 19
(c) The impacts of the changes to the bargaining units for 20
language access providers in chapter 253, Laws of 2018; and21
(d) Recommendations on how to improve the procurement and 22
accessibility of language access providers. 23
(13) Except as otherwise provided in this section, if a conflict 24
exists between an executive order, administrative rule, or agency 25
policy relating to wages, hours, and terms and conditions of 26
employment and a collective bargaining agreement negotiated under 27
this section, the collective bargaining agreement prevails. A 28
provision of a collective bargaining agreement negotiated under this 29
section that conflicts with the terms of a statute is invalid and 30
unenforceable.31
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