HB 1459 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Modernizing the child fatality statute.

This bill updates Washington's child fatality review process to better identify preventable causes of death for children up to age 19. It requires local health departments to conduct confidential reviews of child deaths, protecting all private information collected from families, health staff, and medical providers. The law mandates that hospitals, schools, law enforcement, and other agencies must provide medical records and related data without charge for these reviews, while prohibiting the use of review materials in court proceedings. It also creates legal immunity for review participants and allows health departments to track trends through anonymized data. The policy change replaces outdated "mortality" terminology with "fatality" throughout the statute.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 12, 2026 Last action Jan 12, 2026
Floor votes

How they voted

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
7
Key actions
4
Committee
5
Jan 12, 2026
Introduced
By resolution, reintroduced and retained in present status.
lower
Feb 4, 2025
Committee
Referred to Appropriations.
lower
Jan 31, 2025
Lower · Passed
Minority; without recommendation.
lower
Jan 31, 2025
Lower · Passed
ELHS - Majority; do pass.
lower
Jan 31, 2025
Lower · Passed
Executive action taken in the House Committee on Early Learning & Human Services at 9:00 AM.
lower
Jan 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
Public hearing in the House Committee on Early Learning & Human Services at 1:30 PM.
lower
1 primary · 7 co-sponsors

Sponsors