Friday marked the first cutoff in this year’s legislative session, with all bills needing to be voted out of their original policy committees to move forward, with the exception of those needed to implement the state budget. We are glad to see many important bills moving forward, including bills that will ensure affordable health care for children, ensure Medicaid coverage for pregnant women, improve informed consent laws for patients and make it easier for patients to fill out advance directives. See the full list of bills we support moving forward.
However, there are many bills advancing that we oppose, including those that mandate stringent meal and rest break requirements and prohibit the use of pre-scheduled on-call, create rigid requirements for hospitals and health systems seeking to work together to maintain access to care in their communities, limit the use of noncompetition agreements, and place significant burden on hospitals in protecting patients from balance billing charges. See the full list of bills we oppose moving forward.
Our Government Affairs team is hard at work on all of these issues to help our members better serve their communities. The next cutoff is February 14, when bills will need to be voted out of their house of origin to continue advancing, moving to committees in the opposite house. Read more in Inside Olympia, and subscribe to Inside Olympia to stay up-to-date on the latest legislative news.
Sincerely,
Chris Bandoli
WSHA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs
chrisb@wsha.org
