This bill amends existing laws related to long-term care workers in Washington State, specifically expanding the definition of "family member" for individual providers. The amendments include the insertion of language that allows individual providers to care for their biological, step, or adoptive children or parents, as well as siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents, or grandchildren, including those related by marriage or domestic partnership. Additionally, the bill specifies that individual providers who care for a family member must complete certain training requirements, with adjustments made to the number of hours required for training and the conditions under which exemptions apply.

The bill also updates various training requirements for long-term care workers, including the number of hours of continuing education needed annually and the conditions under which certain workers are exempt from these requirements. Notably, it changes the threshold for care hours from "twenty" to "20" and from "three hundred" to "300," while also establishing that individual providers must be compensated for training time. The effective date for some provisions is set for January 1, 2025, and the bill includes provisions for the department to adopt rules to implement these changes.

Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 18.88B.041, 74.39A.076, 74.39A.341