Obsolete statutory language

AN ACT Relating to improving government efficiency through 1
amending and repealing obsolete statutory language; amending RCW 2
41.04.665, 41.04.760, 41.06.500, 43.03.030, and 43.03.040; and 3
repealing RCW 41.06.155, 41.06.475, 41.06.476, 41.06.560, and 4
43.03.3051. 5
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:6
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The following acts or parts of acts are 7
each repealed:8
(1) RCW 41.06.155 (Salaries— Implementation of changes to achieve 9
comparable worth) and 1993 c 281 s 28 & 1983 1st ex.s. c 75 s 6;10
(2) RCW 41.06.475 (Employees with unsupervised access to children11
— Rules for background investigation) and 2017 3rd sp.s. c 6 s 807, 12
2007 c 387 s 8, 2002 c 354 s 222, 1993 c 281 s 38, & 1986 c 269 s 2;13
(3) RCW 41.06.476 (Background investigation rules — Updating) and 14
2011 1st sp.s. c 43 s 426 & 2001 c 296 s 6; 15
(4) RCW 41.06.560 (Monetary performance-based awards or 16
incentives— Restrictions) and 2012 2nd sp.s. c 7 s 916, 2011 1st sp.s. 17
c 39 s 11, & 2010 c 2 s 6; and 18
(5) RCW 43.03.3051 (Elected officials— Voluntary salary reduction) 19
and 2011 1st sp.s. c 39 s 2. 20
Z-0595.1
HOUSE BILL 2408
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Walen, Hill, Reeves, and Donaghy; by request of
Office of Financial Management
Read first time 01/13/26. Referred to Committee on State Government
& Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 2408
Sec. 2. RCW 41.04.665 and 2020 c 6 s 2 are each amended to read 1
as follows: 2
(1) An agency head may permit an employee to receive leave under 3
this section if: 4
(a)(i) The employee suffers from, or has a relative or household 5
member suffering from, an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or 6
mental condition which is of an extraordinary or severe nature;7
(ii) The employee has been called to service in the uniformed 8
services; 9
(iii) The employee is a current member of the uniformed services 10
or is a veteran as defined under RCW 41.04.005, and is attending 11
medical appointments or treatments for a service connected injury or 12
disability; 13
(iv) The employee is a spouse of a current member of the 14
uniformed services or a veteran as defined under RCW 41.04.005, who 15
is attending medical appointments or treatments for a service 16
connected injury or disability and requires assistance while 17
attending appointment or treatment; 18
(v) A state of emergency has been declared anywhere within the 19
United States by the federal or any state government and the employee 20
has needed skills to assist in responding to the emergency or its 21
aftermath and volunteers his or her services to either a governmental 22
agency or to a nonprofit organization engaged in humanitarian relief 23
in the devastated area, and the governmental agency or nonprofit 24
organization accepts the employee's offer of volunteer services;25
(vi) The employee is a victim of domestic violence, sexual 26
assault, or stalking; 27
(vii) The employee needs the time for parental leave; or28
(viii) The employee is sick or temporarily disabled because of 29
pregnancy disability; 30
(b) The illness, injury, impairment, condition, call to service, 31
emergency volunteer service, or consequence of domestic violence, 32
sexual assault, temporary layoff under section 3 (5), chapter 32, Laws 33
of 2010 1st sp. sess., or stalking has caused, or is likely to cause, 34
the employee to: 35
(i) Go on leave without pay status; or 36
(ii) Terminate state employment; 37
(c) The employee's absence and the use of shared leave are 38
justified; 39
(d) The employee has depleted or will shortly deplete his or her:40
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(i) Annual leave and sick leave reserves if he or she qualifies 1
under (a)(i) of this subsection; 2
(ii) Annual leave and paid military leave allowed under RCW 3
38.40.060 if he or she qualifies under (a)(ii) of this subsection;4
(iii) Annual leave if he or she qualifies under (a) (v) or (vi) 5
of this subsection; or 6
(iv) Annual leave and sick leave reserves if the employee 7
qualifies under (a)(vii) or (viii) of this subsection; and8
(e) The employee has abided by agency rules regarding:9
(i) Sick leave use if he or she qualifies under (a)(i), (vi), 10
(vii), or (viii) of this subsection; or 11
(ii) Military leave if he or she qualifies under (a)(ii) of this 12
subsection((; and13
(f)(i) Until the expiration of proclamation 20-05, issued 14
February 29, 2020, by the governor and declaring a state of emergency 15
in the state of Washington, or any amendment thereto, whichever is 16
later, an agency head may permit an employee to receive shared leave 17
under this section if the employee, or a relative or household 18
member, is isolated or quarantined as recommended, requested, or 19
ordered by a public health official or health care provider as a 20
result of suspected or confirmed infection with or exposure to the 21
2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). An agency head may permit use of 22
shared leave under this subsection (1)(f) without considering the 23
requirements of (a) through (e) of this subsection.24
(ii) The office of the governor must provide notice of the 25
expiration of proclamation 20-05, or any amendment thereto, whichever 26
is later, to the chief clerk of the house of representatives, the 27
secretary of the senate, the office of the code reviser, and others 28
as deemed appropriate by the office of the governor)).29
(2)(a) The agency head shall determine the amount of leave, if 30
any, which an employee may receive under this section. However, the 31
agency head may not prevent an employee from using shared leave 32
intermittently or on nonconsecutive days so long as the leave has not 33
been returned under subsection (10) of this section. In addition, an 34
employee shall not receive a total of more than five hundred twenty-35
two days of leave, except that, a supervisor may authorize leave in 36
excess of five hundred twenty-two days in extraordinary circumstances 37
for an employee qualifying for the shared leave program because he or 38
she is suffering from an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or 39
mental condition which is of an extraordinary or severe nature. 40
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Shared leave received under the uniformed service shared leave pool 1
in RCW 41.04.685 is not included in this total. 2
(b) An employee receiving industrial insurance wage replacement 3
benefits may not receive greater than twenty-five percent of his or 4
her base salary from the receipt of shared leave under this section.5
(3) The agency head must allow employees who are veterans, as 6
defined under RCW 41.04.005, and their spouses, to access shared 7
leave from the veterans' in-state service shared leave pool upon 8
employment. 9
(4) An employee may transfer annual leave, sick leave, and his or 10
her personal holiday, as follows: 11
(a) An employee who has an accrued annual leave balance of more 12
than ten days may request that the head of the agency for which the 13
employee works transfer a specified amount of annual leave to another 14
employee authorized to receive leave under subsection (1) of this 15
section. In no event may the employee request a transfer of an amount 16
of leave that would result in his or her annual leave account going 17
below ten days. For purposes of this subsection (4)(a), annual leave 18
does not accrue if the employee receives compensation in lieu of 19
accumulating a balance of annual leave. 20
(b) An employee may transfer a specified amount of sick leave to 21
an employee requesting shared leave only when the donating employee 22
retains a minimum of one hundred seventy-six hours of sick leave 23
after the transfer. 24
(c) An employee may transfer, under the provisions of this 25
section relating to the transfer of leave, all or part of his or her 26
personal holiday, as that term is defined under RCW 1.16.050, or as 27
such holidays are provided to employees by agreement with a school 28
district's board of directors if the leave transferred under this 29
subsection does not exceed the amount of time provided for personal 30
holidays under RCW 1.16.050. 31
(5) An employee of an institution of higher education under RCW 32
28B.10.016, school district, or educational service district who does 33
not accrue annual leave but does accrue sick leave and who has an 34
accrued sick leave balance of more than twenty-two days may request 35
that the head of the agency for which the employee works transfer a 36
specified amount of sick leave to another employee authorized to 37
receive leave under subsection (1) of this section. In no event may 38
such an employee request a transfer that would result in his or her 39
sick leave account going below twenty-two days. Transfers of sick 40
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leave under this subsection are limited to transfers from employees 1
who do not accrue annual leave. Under this subsection, "sick leave" 2
also includes leave accrued pursuant to RCW 28A.400.300(1)(b) or 3
28A.310.240(1) with compensation for illness, injury, and 4
emergencies. 5
(6) Transfers of leave made by an agency head under subsections 6
(4) and (5) of this section shall not exceed the requested amount.7
(7) Leave transferred under this section may be transferred from 8
employees of one agency to an employee of the same agency or, with 9
the approval of the heads of both agencies, to an employee of another 10
state agency. 11
(8) While an employee is on leave transferred under this section, 12
he or she shall continue to be classified as a state employee and 13
shall receive the same treatment in respect to salary, wages, and 14
employee benefits as the employee would normally receive if using 15
accrued annual leave or sick leave. 16
(a) All salary and wage payments made to employees while on leave 17
transferred under this section shall be made by the agency employing 18
the person receiving the leave. The value of leave transferred shall 19
be based upon the leave value of the person receiving the leave.20
(b) In the case of leave transferred by an employee of one agency 21
to an employee of another agency, the agencies involved shall arrange 22
for the transfer of funds and credit for the appropriate value of 23
leave. 24
(i) Pursuant to rules adopted by the office of financial 25
management, funds shall not be transferred under this section if the 26
transfer would violate any constitutional or statutory restrictions 27
on the funds being transferred. 28
(ii) The office of financial management may adjust the 29
appropriation authority of an agency receiving funds under this 30
section only if and to the extent that the agency's existing 31
appropriation authority would prevent it from expending the funds 32
received. 33
(iii) Where any questions arise in the transfer of funds or the 34
adjustment of appropriation authority, the director of financial 35
management shall determine the appropriate transfer or adjustment.36
(9) Leave transferred under this section shall not be used in any 37
calculation to determine an agency's allocation of full time 38
equivalent staff positions. 39
p. 5 HB 2408
(10)(a) The value of any leave transferred under this section 1
which remains unused shall be returned at its original value to the 2
employee or employees who transferred the leave when the agency head 3
finds that the leave is no longer needed or will not be needed at a 4
future time in connection with the illness or injury for which the 5
leave was transferred or for any other qualifying condition. Unused 6
shared leave may not be returned until one of the following occurs:7
(i) The agency head receives from the affected employee a 8
statement from the employee's doctor verifying that the illness or 9
injury is resolved; or 10
(ii) The employee is released to full-time employment; has not 11
received additional medical treatment for his or her current 12
condition or any other qualifying condition for at least six months; 13
and the employee's doctor has declined, in writing, the employee's 14
request for a statement indicating the employee's condition has been 15
resolved. 16
(b) If a shared leave account is closed and an employee later has 17
a need to use shared leave due to the same condition listed in the 18
closed account, the agency head must approve a new shared leave 19
request for the employee. 20
(c) To the extent administratively feasible, the value of unused 21
leave which was transferred by more than one employee shall be 22
returned on a pro rata basis. 23
(11) An employee who uses leave that is transferred to him or her 24
under this section may not be required to repay the value of the 25
leave that he or she used. 26
(12) The director of financial management may adopt rules as 27
necessary to implement subsection (2) of this section.28
(13) For the purposes of this section, "shortly deplete" means 29
that the employee will have forty hours or less of the applicable 30
leave types under subsection (1)(d) of this section. However, the 31
employee is not required to deplete all of the employee's leave and 32
can maintain up to forty hours of the applicable leave types in 33
reserve. 34
Sec. 3. RCW 41.04.760 and 1999 c 178 s 3 are each amended to 35
read as follows: 36
State agencies are encouraged to participate in supported 37
employment activities. The department of social and health services, 38
in conjunction with ((the department of personnel and )) the office of 39
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financial management, shall identify agencies that have positions and 1
funding conducive to implementing supported employment. An agency may 2
only participate in supported employment activities pursuant to this 3
section if the agency is able to operate the program within its 4
existing budget. These agencies shall: 5
(1) Designate a coordinator who will be responsible for 6
information and resource referral regarding the agency's supported 7
employment program. The coordinator shall serve as a liaison between 8
the agency and the ((department of personnel )) office of financial 9
management regarding supported employment; 10
(2) Submit an annual update to the department of social and 11
health services((, the department of personnel, )) and the ((office of 12
financial management )) office of equity . The annual update shall 13
include: A description of the agency's supported employment efforts, 14
the number of individuals placed in supported employment positions, 15
and an overall evaluation of the effectiveness of supported 16
employment for the agency. 17
Sec. 4. RCW 41.06.500 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 39 s 6 are each 18
amended to read as follows: 19
(1) Except as provided in RCW 41.06.070 and subject to RCW 20
41.04.820, notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the 21
director is authorized to adopt, after consultation with state 22
agencies and employee organizations, rules for managers as defined in 23
RCW 41.06.022. These rules shall not apply to managers employed by 24
institutions of higher education or related boards or whose positions 25
are exempt. The rules shall govern recruitment, appointment, 26
classification and allocation of positions, examination, training and 27
career development, hours of work, probation, certification, 28
compensation, transfer, affirmative action, promotion, layoff, 29
reemployment, performance appraisals, discipline, and any and all 30
other personnel practices for managers. These rules shall be separate 31
from rules adopted for other employees, and to the extent that the 32
rules adopted under this section apply only to managers shall take 33
precedence over rules adopted for other employees, and are not 34
subject to review by the board. 35
(2) In establishing rules for managers, the director shall adhere 36
to the following goals: 37
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(a) Development of a simplified classification system that 1
facilitates movement of managers between agencies and promotes upward 2
mobility; 3
(b) Creation of a compensation system that provides flexibility 4
in setting and changing salaries, and shall require review and 5
approval by the director in the case of any salary changes greater 6
than five percent proposed for any group of employees;7
(c) Establishment of a performance appraisal system that 8
emphasizes individual accountability for program results and 9
efficient management of resources; effective planning, organization, 10
and communication skills; valuing and managing workplace diversity; 11
development of leadership and interpersonal abilities; and employee 12
development; 13
(d) Strengthening management training and career development 14
programs that build critical management knowledge, skills, and 15
abilities; focusing on managing and valuing workplace diversity; 16
empowering employees by enabling them to share in workplace decision 17
making and to be innovative, willing to take risks, and able to 18
accept and deal with change; promoting a workplace where the overall 19
focus is on the recipient of the government services and how these 20
services can be improved; and enhancing mobility and career 21
advancement opportunities; 22
(e) Permitting flexible recruitment and hiring procedures that 23
enable agencies to compete effectively with other employers, both 24
public and private, for managers with appropriate skills and 25
training; allowing consideration of all qualified candidates for 26
positions as managers; and achieving affirmative action goals and 27
diversity in the workplace; 28
(f) Providing that managers may only be reduced, dismissed, 29
suspended, or demoted for cause; and 30
(g) Facilitating decentralized and regional administration.31
(((3) From February 18, 2009, through June 30, 2013, a salary or 32
wage increase shall not be granted to any position under this 33
section, except that increases may be granted for positions for which 34
the employer has demonstrated difficulty retaining qualified 35
employees if the following conditions are met:36
(a) The salary increase can be paid within existing resources;37
(b) The salary increase will not adversely impact the provision 38
of client services; and39
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(c) For any state agency of the executive branch, not including 1
institutions of higher education, the salary increase is approved by 2
the director of the office of financial management.3
Any agency granting a salary increase from February 15, 2010, 4
through June 30, 2011, to a position under this section shall submit 5
a report to the fiscal committees of the legislature no later than 6
July 31, 2011, detailing the positions for which salary increases 7
were granted, the size of the increases, and the reasons for giving 8
the increases.9
Any agency granting a salary increase from July 1, 2011, through 10
June 30, 2013, to a position under this section shall submit a report 11
to the fiscal committees of the legislature by July 31, 2012, and 12
July 31, 2013, detailing the positions for which salary increases 13
were granted during the preceding fiscal year, the size of the 14
increases, and the reasons for giving the increases.15
(4) From February 15, 2010, until June 30, 2013, no monetary 16
performance-based awards or growth and development progression 17
adjustments may be granted by the director or employers to the 18
Washington management service employees covered by the rules adopted 19
under this section. This subsection does not prohibit the payment of 20
awards provided for in chapter 41.60 RCW.21
From July 1, 2011, until June 30, 2013, no performance-based 22
awards or incentives may be granted by the director or employers to 23
employees pursuant to a performance management confirmation granted 24
by the department of personnel under WAC 357-37-055.25
From July 1, 2011, through June 29, 2013, salaries for all 26
positions under this section are subject to RCW 41.04.820.))27
Sec. 5. RCW 43.03.030 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 39 s 7 are each 28
amended to read as follows: 29
(1) Wherever the compensation of any appointive state officer or 30
employee is fixed by statute, it may be hereafter increased or 31
decreased in the manner provided by law for the fixing of 32
compensation of other appointive state officers or employees; but 33
this subsection shall not apply to the heads of state departments.34
(2) Wherever the compensation of any state officer appointed by 35
the governor, or of any employee in any office or department under 36
the control of any such officer, is fixed by statute, such 37
compensation may hereafter, from time to time, be changed by the 38
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governor, and he or she shall have power to fix such compensation at 1
any amount not to exceed the amount fixed by statute.2
(((3) From February 18, 2009, through June 30, 2013, a salary or 3
wage increase shall not be granted to any position under this 4
section, except that increases may be granted for positions for which 5
the employer has demonstrated difficulty retaining qualified 6
employees if the following conditions are met:7
(a) The salary increase can be paid within existing resources;8
(b) The salary increase will not adversely impact the provision 9
of client services; and10
(c) For any state agency of the executive branch, not including 11
institutions of higher education, the salary increase is approved by 12
the director of the office of financial management.13
Any agency granting a salary increase from February 15, 2010, 14
through June 30, 2011, to a position exempt under this section shall 15
submit a report to the fiscal committees of the legislature no later 16
than July 31, 2011, detailing the positions for which salary 17
increases were granted, the size of the increases, and the reasons 18
for giving the increases.19
Any agency granting a salary increase from July 1, 2011, through 20
June 30, 2013, to a position exempt under this section shall submit a 21
report to the fiscal committees of the legislature by July 31, 2012, 22
and July 31, 2013, detailing the positions for which salary increases 23
were granted during the preceding fiscal year, the size of the 24
increases, and the reasons for giving the increases.25
From July 1, 2011, through June 29, 2013, salaries for all 26
positions under this section are subject to RCW 41.04.820.))27
Sec. 6. RCW 43.03.040 and 2018 c 272 s 1 are each amended to 28
read as follows: 29
Subject to RCW 41.04.820, the directors of the several 30
departments and members of the several boards and commissions, whose 31
salaries are fixed by the governor and the chief executive officers 32
of the agencies named in RCW 43.03.028(1) as now or hereafter amended 33
shall each severally receive such salaries, payable in monthly 34
installments, as shall be fixed by the governor or the appropriate 35
salary fixing authority, and, unless set according to RCW 36
41.26.717(1), in an amount not to exceed the recommendations of the 37
office of financial management. ((From February 18, 2009, through 38
June 30, 2013, a salary or wage increase shall not be granted to any 39
p. 10 HB 2408
position under this section, except that increases may be granted for 1
positions for which the employer has demonstrated difficulty 2
retaining qualified employees if the following conditions are met:3
(1) The salary increase can be paid within existing resources;4
(2) The salary increase will not adversely impact the provision 5
of client services; and6
(3) For any state agency of the executive branch, not including 7
institutions of higher education, the salary increase is approved by 8
the director of the office of financial management.9
Any agency granting a salary increase from February 15, 2010, 10
through June 30, 2011, to a position under this section shall submit 11
a report to the fiscal committees of the legislature no later than 12
July 31, 2011, detailing the positions for which salary increases 13
were granted, the size of the increases, and the reasons for giving 14
the increases.15
Any agency granting a salary increase from July 1, 2011, through 16
June 30, 2013, to a position under this section shall submit a report 17
to the fiscal committees of the legislature by July 31, 2012, and 18
July 31, 2013, detailing the positions for which salary increases 19
were granted during the preceding fiscal year, the size of the 20
increases, and the reasons for giving the increases.))21
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