Inslee signs abortion-related bills into law. Here are other key bills also signed so far

Gov. Jay Inslee signed five new pieces of legislation into law on Thursday aimed at protecting reproductive health-care rights in the state of Washington.

“We are here to proclaim very vocally and very forcefully that we will not allow any state, or any Trump-appointed judge, to jeopardize a woman’s right of choice in the state of Washington,” Inslee said. “We know, when it comes to a woman’s freedom of choice, the Evergreen State is ever-vigilant in protecting this freedom right.”

Democratic Washington lawmakers announced early in the 2023 session that bills protecting reproductive and gender-affirming care would be one of the biggest priorities.

Here are the bills signed Thursday:

House Bill 1155: Sponsored by Rep. Vandana Slatter, D-Bellevue, and known as the “My Health, My Data Act,” this law allows consumers in Washington the ability to “access, delete, and withdraw consent from the collection, sharing, or selling of their consumer health data.” If violated, penalties of up to $7,500 can be handed down from the Washington Attorney General to any companies that break the law. Companies must now have consent to share or sell as well as collect the data. The law will go into effect on July 23.

House Bill 1469: This law is aimed at preventing other states from interfering with their residents who seek reproductive or gender-affirming care in Washington. Washington courts and law enforcement agencies will be restricted from complying with warrants, subpoenas, extradition or other court orders pertaining to those seeking reproductive or gender-affirming care in the state.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Drew Hansen, D-Bainbridge Island, and went into effect immediately when Inslee signed the bill Thursday.

Senate Bill 5242: This law will prohibit cost-sharing for abortions, and requires health plans that are renewed on or after Jan. 1, 2024 to provide coverage for the service.

The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver.

Senate Bill 5768: In early April, the state purchased a 3-year supply — 30,000 doses — of the abortion medication mifepristone ahead of a federal Texas ruling that could force the Food and Drug Administration to rescind its approval of the medication. While a decision on that ruling is still making its way through federal courts, this legislation creates a mechanism for distributing those doses of mifepristone to private and public health-care providers for their patients.

Sponsored by Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, the bill went into effect immediately after Inslee signed it Thursday.

House Bill 1340: Under this piece of legislation, medical providers who offer reproductive and gender-affirming care in the state would be protected from disciplinary actions for providing care, even if a person from another state where the care is not allowed comes to Washington for treatment.

The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane.

Lawmakers also tried to pass legislation this year that would have codified reproductive rights in the state constitution, but that measure failed to clear the Legislature.

The bill signing was done in Seattle, and the governor was joined by the state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the lawmakers who sponsored the bills.

Inslee also signed three new gun bills into law on Tuesday. Those bills include a ban on assault-style weapons in Washington, a mandatory 10-day waiting period on all firearms purchased in the state, and a legislation that will add more liability for gun manufacturers and dealers.

The governor is next scheduled to sign bills on May 1. The governor has signed 188 bills from the 2023 legislative session into law so far.

Here are some of the other bills that Inslee has signed:

Advisory votes

Signed last week, this law will eliminate non-binding advisory votes from Washington ballots. Advisory votes were created to gauge voter opinion on tax increases that already have passed the Legislature. Anti-tax activist Tim Eyman sponsored the initiative in 2007 that first required advisory votes to be placed on Washington ballots.

The bill will go into effect on July 23.

Death penalty written out of statute

While the last execution by the state was in 2010 and the Washington Supreme Court ruled the practice unconstitutional in 2018, the death penalty had not been removed from state statute. The new law signed by Inslee last week removes any of the old language in statute related to the death penalty.

Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women and People cold case unit

Under this new legislation, a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People cold case unit is formed within the state AG’s Office to help solve cases. Jurisdictions that do not have the funding to investigate such cases must be prioritized by the cold case unit. This legislation follows moves by lawmakers last year to establish the nation’s first MMIWP alert system for Washington state, similar to Amber Alerts.

Safe staffing

While attempts to get similar legislation passed last year were unsuccessful, the governor signed a bill last week that would require safe staffing in Washington hospitals.

Under the bill signed into law, staffing committees will be established in hospitals by Jan. 1, 2024. Those staffing committees must be made up of 50% non-managerial nursing staff, and 50% hospital administration including the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer. The staffing committee will be responsible for creating safe-staffing plans and submitting them to the Washington Department of Health by 2025.

The legislation also requires more oversight from the Department of Labor & Industries and the DOH, which could issue corrective measures or penalties starting in 2027 if hospitals are less than 80% compliant with the safe-staffing plans.

Commissary deductions

Previously when incarcerated individuals received funds from family members or friends for their commissary, nearly 95% of that money could be taken by the DOC.

This bill signed into law last week would change that, prohibiting DOC from taxing those commissary funds provided by outside sources. It also specifies that the money may be used only for commissary items.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously, and had less support in the House with a 71-27 vote. The law will go into effect July 23.

Robocalling

Washingtonians received nearly 260 million scam robocalls in 2021, according to the AG’s Office, and under this new law signed by the governor last week, Washington will be more aligned with federal laws in prohibiting robocallers from contacting people on the Do Not Call list. The law also gives the state AG the ability to enforce the prohibition in Washington courts.

Victims compensation

Passed unanimously by both chambers of the Legislature, this law signed last week would authorize more than 12 counseling sessions for immediate family members of homicide victims through the Crime Victims Compensation Program. Currently family members are only entitled to 12 sessions. The new law goes into effect on July 23.

Wildfire mitigation

This law signed last week would require the Department of Natural Resources and the Energy Resilience and Emergency Management Office to establish an electric utility wildfire mitigation plan. Each electric utility must be reviewed, and the plan revised and adopted by Oct. 31, 2024 and every three years after.

Additionally, the Utility Wildland Fire Prevention Advisory Committee is directed to meet twice a year to “develop recommendations for strengthening state agency coordination of wildland fire risk reduction, prevention, and suppression” and provide updates on required tasks.