Conflict of interest

AN ACT Relating to holding state officers and state employees to 1
the same conflict of interest standard that is required of municipal 2
officers; amending RCW 42.52.010; and creating a new section.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that Article II, 5
section 30 of the state Constitution requires legislators who have a 6
private interest in any bill or measure proposed or pending before 7
the legislature to disclose that fact and not vote on that measure. 8
This constitutional requirement imposes a clear and strict standard 9
for disclosure and recusal for legislators. The legislature finds 10
that this high ethical standard also imposes a duty on legislators to 11
ensure trust, openness, and honesty in their actions. However, the 12
legislative record does not reflect any discussion of this paramount 13
duty when the legislature amended statutory ethics provisions in 2025 14
to hold state officers and municipal officers to different ethical 15
standards concerning conflicts of interests.16
The legislature further finds that prior to 2025, state officers 17
and employees were held to a similar standard as municipal officers 18
in terms of the prohibition on having beneficial interests in 19
contracts and certain other transactions made by, through, or under 20
their supervision. In 2025, while the standard for municipal officers 21
H-2768.1
HOUSE BILL 2352
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Pollet, Zahn, Walen, Rule, Dufault, Nance, Hall,
McEntire, Salahuddin, and Bernbaum
Prefiled 01/09/26. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on State Government & Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 2352
remained the same, prohibiting more than a remote interest, meaning 1
one percent or more, in contracts, state ethics laws were amended to 2
adopt, among other things, a different standard for what constitutes 3
a conflict of interest for state officers and employees which is 10 4
times laxer than the standard that has been applied to municipal 5
officers for decades. 6
The legislature further finds that by adopting a standard for 7
itself which is weaker than what it has required municipal officers 8
to meet, it did not adequately consider its constitutional duty to 9
ensure trust, openness, and honesty in the actions of legislators. By 10
allowing legislators to own up to 10 percent of an entity that has a 11
financial interest in a contract, sale, lease, purchase, or grant 12
with the state, while barring municipal officers from holding 13
anything more than one percent of an entity that similarly contracts 14
or does business with the local government, the legislature has 15
unjustifiably created differing standards that do not live up to the 16
Constitution's strict standard for disclosure and recusal for 17
legislators. The legislature intends for state officers and employees 18
to abide by the same conflict of interest requirements that apply to 19
municipal officers. 20
Sec. 2. RCW 42.52.010 and 2025 c 377 s 2 are each amended to 21
read as follows: 22
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in 23
this section apply throughout this chapter. 24
(1) "Agency" means any state board, commission, bureau, 25
committee, department, institution, division, or tribunal in the 26
legislative, executive, or judicial branch of state government. 27
"Agency" includes all elective offices, the state legislature, those 28
institutions of higher education created and supported by the state 29
government, and those courts that are parts of state government. 30
"Agency" does not include a comprehensive cancer center participating 31
in a collaborative arrangement as defined in RCW 28B.10.930 that is 32
operated in conformance with RCW 28B.10.930. 33
(2) "Appearance" means the act of performing or participating in 34
an event. 35
(3) "Assist" means to act, or offer or agree to act, in such a 36
way as to help, aid, advise, furnish information to, or otherwise 37
provide assistance to another person, believing that the action is of 38
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help, aid, advice, or assistance to the person and with intent so to 1
assist such person. 2
(4) "Beneficial interest" means a financial interest in a 3
contract, sale, lease, purchase, or grant to which an individual 4
subject to the act is not a party, but is an owner of an entity that 5
is a party. An ownership interest of less than ((10)) one percent of 6
an entity is not a beneficial interest. However, an ownership 7
interest in a mutual fund or similar investment pooling fund in which 8
the owner has no management powers does not constitute a beneficial 9
interest in the entities in which the fund or pool invests.10
(([(5)])) (5) "Charitable association, institution, or 11
organization" means any entity that provides services beneficial to 12
the public to an open class of people. 13
(6) "Civic organization" means a nonprofit group relating to the 14
duties or activities of people in relation to their town, city, or 15
local area. 16
(7) "Community organization" means an organization aimed at 17
making desired improvements to a community's social health, well-18
being, and overall functioning. 19
(8) "Compensation" means anything of economic value, however 20
designated, that is paid, loaned, granted, or transferred, or to be 21
paid, loaned, granted, or transferred for, or in consideration of, 22
personal services to any person. 23
(9) "Confidential information" means (a) specific information, 24
rather than generalized knowledge, that is not available to the 25
general public on request or (b) information made confidential by 26
law. 27
(10) "Contract" or "grant" means an agreement between two or more 28
persons that creates an obligation to do or not to do a particular 29
thing. "Contract" or "grant" includes, but is not limited to, an 30
employment contract, a lease, a license, a purchase agreement, or a 31
sales agreement. 32
(11) "Emergency" means a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous 33
situation requiring immediate action. 34
(12) "Ethics boards" means the commission on judicial conduct, 35
the legislative ethics board, and the executive ethics board.36
(13) "Extraordinary award" means a national, state, or local 37
award with very few recipients that is sufficiently infrequent to be 38
noteworthy to a reasonable person. 39
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(14) "Family" has the same meaning as "immediate family" in RCW 1
29B.10.280. 2
(15) "Federal holiday" means the legal public holidays provided 3
in 5 U.S.C. Sec. 6103(a), as it existed on January 1, 2026.4
(16) "Head of agency" means the chief executive officer of an 5
agency. In the case of an agency headed by a commission, board, 6
committee, or other body consisting of more than one natural person, 7
agency head means the person or board authorized to appoint agency 8
employees and regulate their conduct. 9
(17) "Honorarium" means money or thing of value offered to a 10
state officer or state employee for a speech, appearance, article, or 11
similar item or activity in connection with the state officer's or 12
state employee's official role. 13
(18) "Institution of higher education" has the same meaning as in 14
RCW 28B.10.016. 15
(19) "Lobbying the legislature" means attempting to influence the 16
passage or defeat of any legislation by the legislature of the state 17
of Washington. 18
(20) "Official duty" means those duties within the specific scope 19
of employment of the state officer or state employee as defined by 20
the officer's or employee's agency or by statute or the state 21
Constitution. 22
(21) "Official position" means holding an office or having 23
authority. 24
(22) "Participate" means to participate in state action or a 25
proceeding personally and substantially as a state officer or state 26
employee, through approval, disapproval, decision, recommendation, 27
the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise but does not 28
include preparation, consideration, or enactment of legislation or 29
the performance of legislative duties. 30
(23) "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, 31
corporation, firm, institution, or other entity, whether or not 32
operated for profit. 33
(24) "Regulatory agency" means any state board, commission, 34
department, or officer, except those in the legislative or judicial 35
branches, authorized by law to conduct adjudicative proceedings, 36
issue permits or licenses, or to control or affect interests of 37
identified persons. 38
(25) "Responsibility" in connection with a transaction involving 39
the state, means the direct administrative or operating authority, 40
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whether intermediate or final, and either exercisable alone or 1
through subordinates, effectively to approve, disapprove, or 2
otherwise direct state action in respect of such transaction.3
(26) "State action" means any action on the part of an agency, 4
including, but not limited to: 5
(a) A decision, determination, finding, ruling, or order; and6
(b) A grant, payment, award, license, contract, transaction, 7
sanction, or approval, or the denial thereof, or failure to act with 8
respect to a decision, determination, finding, ruling, or order.9
(27) "State employee" means an individual who is employed by an 10
agency in any branch of state government. For purposes of this 11
chapter, employees of the superior courts are not state officers or 12
state employees. 13
(28) "State officer" means every person holding a position of 14
public trust in or under an executive, legislative, or judicial 15
office of the state. "State officer" includes judges of the superior 16
court, judges of the court of appeals, justices of the supreme court, 17
members of the legislature together with the secretary of the senate 18
and the chief clerk of the house of representatives, holders of 19
elective offices in the executive branch of state government, chief 20
executive officers of state agencies, members of boards, commissions, 21
or committees with authority over one or more state agencies or 22
institutions, and employees of the state who are engaged in 23
supervisory, policy-making, or policy-enforcing work. For the 24
purposes of this chapter, "state officer" also includes any person 25
exercising or undertaking to exercise the powers or functions of a 26
state officer. 27
(29) "Thing of economic value," in addition to its ordinary 28
meaning, includes: 29
(a) A loan, property interest, interest in a contract or other 30
chose in action, and employment or another arrangement involving a 31
right to compensation; 32
(b) An option, irrespective of the conditions to the exercise of 33
the option; and 34
(c) A promise or undertaking for the present or future delivery 35
or procurement. 36
(30)(a) "Transaction involving the state" means a proceeding, 37
application, submission, request for a ruling or other determination, 38
contract, claim, case, or other similar matter that the state 39
p. 5 HB 2352
officer, state employee, or former state officer or state employee in 1
question believes, or has reason to believe: 2
(i) Is, or will be, the subject of state action; or3
(ii) Is one to which the state is or will be a party; or4
(iii) Is one in which the state has a direct and substantial 5
proprietary interest. 6
(b) "Transaction involving the state" does not include the 7
following: Preparation, consideration, or enactment of legislation, 8
including appropriation of moneys in a budget, or the performance of 9
legislative duties by an officer or employee; or a claim, case, 10
lawsuit, or similar matter if the officer or employee did not 11
participate in the underlying transaction involving the state that is 12
the basis for the claim, case, or lawsuit. 13
(31) "University" includes "state universities" and "regional 14
universities" as defined in RCW 28B.10.016 and also includes any 15
research or technology institute affiliated with a university.16
(32) "University research employee" means a state officer or 17
state employee employed by a university, but only to the extent the 18
state officer or state employee is engaged in research, technology 19
transfer, approved consulting activities related to research and 20
technology transfer, or other incidental activities.21
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