CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1942
Chapter 224, Laws of 2024
68th Legislature
2024 Regular Session
LONG-TERM CARE INDIVIDUAL PROVIDERS—EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 6, 2024
Passed by the House February 12, 2024 CERTIFICATE
Yeas 97 Nays 0
I, Bernard Dean, Chief Clerk of the
House of Representatives of the
LAURIE JINKINS State of Washington, do hereby
Speaker of the House of certify that the attached is
Representatives SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1942 as
passed by the House of
Representatives and the Senate on
the dates hereon set forth.
Passed by the Senate March 1, 2024
Yeas 49 Nays 0
BERNARD DEAN
DENNY HECK Chief Clerk
President of the Senate
Approved March 25, 2024 1:39 PM FILED
March 26, 2024
Secretary of State
JAY INSLEE State of Washington
Governor of the State of Washington
 SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1942
Passed Legislature - 2024 Regular Session
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2024 Regular Session
By House Labor & Workplace Standards (originally sponsored by
Representatives Fosse, Schmidt, Reed, Simmons, Ormsby, Rule, Macri,
and Ortiz-Self; by request of Department of Social and Health
Services)
READ FIRST TIME 01/23/24.
1 AN ACT Relating to clarifying employment standards for long-term
2 care individual providers; amending RCW 49.46.800, 74.39A.009, and
3 74.39A.500; and creating a new section.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
5 Sec. 1. RCW 49.46.800 and 2017 c 2 s 6 are each amended to read
6 as follows:
7 (1) ((Beginning January 1, 2017, all)) All existing rights and
8 remedies available under state or local law for enforcement of the
9 minimum wage shall be applicable to enforce all of the rights
10 established under chapter 2, Laws of 2017.
11 (2) ((The)) (a) If the department of social and health services
12 contracts with an individual provider for personal care services or
13 respite care services, the state shall pay individual providers, as
14 defined in RCW 74.39A.240, in accordance with the minimum wage,
15 overtime, and paid sick leave requirements of this chapter, except as
16 provided in subsection (4) of this section.
17 (b) A consumer directed employer contracting with the state is an
18 employer of individual providers for the purposes of this chapter.
19 Individual providers are employees of the consumer directed employer.
20 (c) Neither the department of social and health services nor the
21 consumer directed employer may avail itself of any state law minimum
p. 1 SHB 1942.SL
 1 wage or overtime exemption, except as provided in subsection (4) of
2 this section.
3 (3) The definitions in this subsection apply to this section:
4 (a) "Authorized hours" means the number of paid hours of care
5 included in the client's plan of care as determined by the department
6 of social and health services.
7 (b) "Client" has the same meaning as in RCW 74.39A.009.
8 (c) "Consumer directed employer" has the same meaning as in RCW
9 74.39A.009.
10 (d) "Family member" includes, but is not limited to, a parent,
11 child, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, cousin, grandparent,
12 grandchild, grandniece, grandnephew, or such relatives when related
13 by marriage, adoption, or domestic partnership.
14 (e) "Household member" means an individual provider who lives
15 with the client and did so before the employment relationship between
16 the client and individual provider began.
17 (f) "Individual provider" has the same meaning as in RCW
18 74.39A.240.
19 (g) "Personal care services" has the same meaning as in RCW
20 74.39A.009.
21 (4)(a) Hours worked by an individual provider in excess of the
22 number of authorized hours in the client's plan of care are not
23 compensable if:
24 (i) The individual provider is a family member or household
25 member of the client, as defined by this section; and
26 (ii) The client's plan of care is reasonable.
27 (b) This subsection (4) does not apply to hours worked to address
28 temporary emergencies or an unexpected health or safety event of the
29 client that cannot be postponed.
30 (c) A client's plan of care is reasonable under (a)(ii) of this
31 subsection if all of the following are true:
32 (i) The plan of care includes the same number of paid hours it
33 would have if the individual provider were not a family member or
34 household member of the client;
35 (ii) The plan of care does not reflect unequal treatment of an
36 individual provider or their client because of their familial or
37 household relationship. Unequal treatment includes the plan of care
38 including fewer paid hours than it would have if the client's
39 individual provider were not a family or household member of the
40 client; the plan of care including fewer paid hours because the
p. 2 SHB 1942.SL
 1 client's individual provider shares in the benefit of a personal care
2 service or task provided to the client; the plan of care including
3 fewer paid hours because the client lives in a multiclient household
4 and two or more clients benefit from the same personal care service
5 or task being performed; or the plan of care including fewer paid
6 hours because of paid or unpaid assistance provided to a client by
7 that client's paid provider; and
8 (iii) The department of social and health services does not
9 otherwise require an increase in the hours of unpaid services
10 performed by the family or household member individual provider in
11 order to reduce the number of hours of paid services.
12 (d) A determination that a plan of care is reasonable for
13 purposes of this section does not mean that the amount or type of
14 services or paid hours to be provided are or are not appropriate for
15 the client under chapter 74.39A RCW.
16 (5) The department of social and health services retains its core
17 responsibility to manage long-term in-home care services under
18 chapters 74.39A and 74.41 RCW and its authority to set a client's
19 benefit level as required by RCW 74.09.520(3). However, to limit an
20 individual provider's compensable hours as described in subsection
21 (4)(a) of this section, a plan of care must satisfy the requirements
22 of subsection (4)(a) and (c) of this section.
23 (6) The director of labor and industries may adopt rules to
24 implement this section.
25 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) This act is curative and remedial. It
26 applies retroactively and prospectively to all actions filed under
27 RCW 49.46.800, regardless of when they were filed, except for the
28 actions referenced in subsection (2) of this section.
29 (2) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to the
30 following actions: Liang v. State of Washington, No. 20-2-02506-34
31 (Thurston Cnty. Superior Court); SEIU 775 v. Washington State Dep't
32 of Soc. And Health Servs., No. 97216-8 (Washington Supreme Court); or
33 SEIU 775 v. Washington State Dep't of Soc. And Health Servs., No.
34 99659-8 (Washington Supreme Court).
35 Sec. 3. RCW 74.39A.009 and 2022 c 255 s 5 are each amended to
36 read as follows:
37 The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter
38 unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
p. 3 SHB 1942.SL
 1 (1) "Adult family home" means a home licensed under chapter
2 70.128 RCW.
3 (2) "Adult residential care" means services provided by an
4 assisted living facility that is licensed under chapter 18.20 RCW and
5 that has a contract with the department under RCW 74.39A.020 to
6 provide personal care services.
7 (3) "Assisted living facility" means a facility licensed under
8 chapter 18.20 RCW.
9 (4) "Assisted living services" means services provided by an
10 assisted living facility that has a contract with the department
11 under RCW 74.39A.010 to provide personal care services, intermittent
12 nursing services, and medication administration services; and the
13 facility provides these services to residents who are living in
14 private apartment-like units.
15 (5) "Community residential service business" means a business
16 that:
17 (a) Is certified by the department of social and health services
18 to provide to individuals who have a developmental disability as
19 defined in RCW 71A.10.020(((5))) (6):
20 (i) Group home services;
21 (ii) Group training home services;
22 (iii) Supported living services; or
23 (iv) Voluntary placement services provided in a licensed staff
24 residential facility for children;
25 (b) Has a contract with the developmental disabilities
26 administration to provide the services identified in (a) of this
27 subsection; and
28 (c) All of the business's long-term care workers are subject to
29 statutory or regulatory training requirements that are required to
30 provide the services identified in (a) of this subsection.
31 (6) "Consumer" or "client" means a person who is receiving or has
32 applied for services under this chapter, including a person who is
33 receiving services from an individual provider.
34 (7) "Consumer directed employer" is a private entity that
35 contracts with the department to be the legal employer of individual
36 providers ((for purposes of performing administrative functions)).
37 The consumer directed employer is patterned after the agency with
38 choice model, recognized by the federal centers for medicare and
39 medicaid services for financial management in consumer directed
40 programs. The entity's responsibilities are described in RCW
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 1 74.39A.515 and throughout this chapter and include: (a) Coordination
2 with the consumer, who is the individual provider's managing
3 employer; (b) withholding, filing, and paying income and employment
4 taxes, including workers' compensation premiums and unemployment
5 taxes, for individual providers; (c) verifying an individual
6 provider's qualifications; and (d) providing other administrative and
7 employment-related supports. The consumer directed employer is a
8 social service agency and its employees are mandated reporters as
9 defined in RCW 74.34.020.
10 (8) "Core competencies" means basic training topics, including
11 but not limited to, communication skills, worker self-care, problem
12 solving, maintaining dignity, consumer directed care, cultural
13 sensitivity, body mechanics, fall prevention, skin and body care,
14 long-term care worker roles and boundaries, supporting activities of
15 daily living, and food preparation and handling.
16 (9) "Cost-effective care" means care provided in a setting of an
17 individual's choice that is necessary to promote the most appropriate
18 level of physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being consistent
19 with client choice, in an environment that is appropriate to the care
20 and safety needs of the individual, and such care cannot be provided
21 at a lower cost in any other setting. But this in no way precludes an
22 individual from choosing a different residential setting to achieve
23 his or her desired quality of life.
24 (10) "Department" means the department of social and health
25 services.
26 (11) "Developmental disability" has the same meaning as defined
27 in RCW 71A.10.020.
28 (12) "Direct care worker" means a paid caregiver who provides
29 direct, hands-on personal care services to persons with disabilities
30 or the elderly requiring long-term care.
31 (13) "Enhanced adult residential care" means services provided by
32 an assisted living facility that is licensed under chapter 18.20 RCW
33 and that has a contract with the department under RCW 74.39A.010 to
34 provide personal care services, intermittent nursing services, and
35 medication administration services.
36 (14) "Facility" means an adult family home, an assisted living
37 facility, a nursing home, an enhanced services facility licensed
38 under chapter 70.97 RCW, or a facility certified to provide medicare
39 or medicaid services in nursing facilities or intermediate care
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 1 facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities under 42
2 C.F.R. Part 483.
3 (15) "Home and community-based services" means services provided
4 in adult family homes, in-home services, and other services
5 administered or provided by contract by the department directly or
6 through contract with area agencies on aging or federally recognized
7 Indian tribes, or similar services provided by facilities and
8 agencies licensed or certified by the department.
9 (16) "Home care aide" means a long-term care worker who is
10 certified as a home care aide by the department of health under
11 chapter 18.88B RCW.
12 (17) "Individual provider" is defined according to RCW
13 74.39A.240.
14 (18) "Legal employer" means the consumer directed employer, which
15 along with the consumer, coemploys individual providers. The legal
16 employer is responsible for setting wages and benefits for individual
17 providers and must comply with applicable laws including, but not
18 limited to, state minimum wage laws, workers compensation, and
19 unemployment insurance laws.
20 (19) "Long-term care" means care and supports delivered
21 indefinitely, intermittently, or over a sustained time to persons of
22 any age who are functionally disabled due to chronic mental or
23 physical illness, disease, chemical dependency, or a medical
24 condition that is permanent, not curable, or is long-lasting and
25 severely limits their mental or physical capacity for self-care. The
26 use of this definition is not intended to expand the scope of
27 services, care, or assistance provided by any individuals, groups,
28 residential care settings, or professions unless otherwise required
29 by law.
30 (20)(a) "Long-term care workers" include all persons who provide
31 paid, hands-on personal care services for the elderly or persons with
32 disabilities, including but not limited to individual providers of
33 home care services, direct care workers employed by home care
34 agencies or a consumer directed employer, providers of home care
35 services to persons with developmental disabilities under Title 71A
36 RCW, all direct care workers in state-licensed assisted living
37 facilities, enhanced services facilities, and adult family homes,
38 respite care providers, direct care workers employed by community
39 residential service businesses, and any other direct care worker
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 1 providing home or community-based services to the elderly or persons
2 with functional disabilities or developmental disabilities.
3 (b) "Long-term care workers" do not include: (i) Persons employed
4 by the following facilities or agencies: Nursing homes licensed under
5 chapter 18.51 RCW, hospitals or other acute care settings,
6 residential habilitation centers under chapter 71A.20 RCW, facilities
7 certified under 42 C.F.R., Part 483, hospice agencies subject to
8 chapter 70.127 RCW, adult day care centers, and adult day health care
9 centers; or (ii) persons who are not paid by the state or by a
10 private agency or facility licensed or certified by the state to
11 provide personal care services.
12 (21) "Managing employer" means a consumer who coemploys one or
13 more individual providers and whose responsibilities include (a)
14 choosing potential individual providers and referring them to the
15 consumer directed employer; (b) overseeing the day-to-day management
16 and scheduling of the individual provider's tasks consistent with the
17 plan of care; and (c) dismissing the individual provider when
18 desired.
19 (22) "Nursing home" or "nursing facility" means a facility
20 licensed under chapter 18.51 RCW or certified as a medicaid nursing
21 facility under 42 C.F.R. Part 483, or both.
22 (23) "Person who is functionally disabled" means a person who
23 because of a recognized chronic physical or mental condition or
24 disease, including chemical dependency or developmental disability,
25 is dependent upon others for direct care, support, supervision, or
26 monitoring to perform activities of daily living. "Activities of
27 daily living," in this context, means self-care abilities related to
28 personal care such as bathing, eating, using the toilet, dressing,
29 and transfer. Instrumental activities of daily living such as
30 cooking, shopping, house cleaning, doing laundry, working, and
31 managing personal finances may also be considered when assessing a
32 person's fu