HB 1171 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Exempting attorney higher education employees from certain mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect.

This bill amends Washington state law concerning mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect. It specifically addresses employees of public and private institutions of higher education. The bill exempts attorneys employed by these institutions, and their supervisees, from the requirement to report child abuse or neglect when the information is gained in the course of providing legal representation to a client. This aims to ensure that attorney-client confidentiality is maintained in higher education settings, particularly in clinical legal programs.

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2025

House Passage

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Apr 2025

Signed into Law

Apr 2025

Introduced Jan 6, 2025 Signed Apr 30, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Substitute Bill → Substitute Passed Legislature · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was certified as passed by both the House and Senate, and the text was updated to reflect the final legislative version. Substantively, the rules for who must report suspected child abuse by college employees were reorganized to clarify that attorneys and their staff are only required to report if the abuse is not related to their legal representation of a client. Additionally, a new provision was added to ensure this reporting requirement does not override existing professional confidentiality rules unless there is an immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm.

Scope change

The scope of mandatory reporting for higher education employees was clarified to explicitly exclude legal matters related to client representation, while adding a safeguard that professional confidentiality rules still apply unless there is an imminent threat of harm.

REQUIREMENT

Reorganized the reporting requirements for college employees to clearly state that attorneys and their supervised staff must report abuse only when it is not related to their legal work for a client.

Added a new clause confirming that the reporting requirement does not suspend existing professional confidentiality standards, except when necessary to prevent certain death or substantial bodily harm.

TECHNICAL

Added certification pages confirming the bill passed both legislative chambers and was approved for filing.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 14, 2025 · House Apr 17, 2025

How they voted

41–10

Passed

Total votes 51

Apr 14, 2025

D Democratic31

30 Yea 1 Nay

96% Yea

R Republican20

11 Yea 9 Nay

55% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 30, 2025

Signed into law

Governor signed.

executive

Apr 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

President signed.

upper

Apr 18, 2025

Lower · Passed

Speaker signed.

lower

Apr 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed final passage; yeas, 95; nays, 1; absent, 0; excused, 2.

lower

Apr 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

House concurred in Senate amendments.

lower

Apr 14, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee amendment(s) adopted with no other amendments.

upper

Apr 14, 2025

Senate · Passed

Senate Vote: pass (41-10)

senate

Mar 31, 2025

Upper · Passed

Minority; without recommendation.

upper

Mar 31, 2025

Upper · Passed

HS - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).

upper

Mar 31, 2025

Upper · Passed

Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Human Services at 1:30 PM.

upper

Mar 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

Executive session scheduled, but no action was taken in the Senate Committee on Human Services at 1:30 PM.

upper

Mar 17, 2025

Upper · Passed

Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Human Services at 1:30 PM.

upper

Feb 18, 2025

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Feb 14, 2025

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Early Learning & Human Services at 8:00 AM.

lower

Feb 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Early Learning & Human Services at 1:30 PM.

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor