HB 2132 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Concerning applications for state financial aid.

HB 2132 protects student privacy for Washington state financial aid applications by making personally identifying and financial information exempt from public records requests. It limits how long institutions and the state council retain application records (one year after the award year ends, unless an audit or appeal is pending) and restricts sharing this data with other entities, including the federal government, without a court order or specific data-sharing agreements. The bill directly affects students applying for state financial aid (excluding the federal FAFSA) and state agencies handling these applications. Key provisions include strict privacy safeguards for sensitive data and clear limits on data sharing to prevent unauthorized disclosure.

Issues: ✓ Education ✓ Technology

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Dec 10, 2025 Last action Feb 2, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Bill → Substitute Bill · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was renumbered from H-2531.2 to H-3100.1 and moved to the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce committee. The most significant change is the expansion of who can receive personally identifying financial aid information for enrollment purposes, now including any entity with a binding data-sharing agreement rather than just higher education institutions. Additionally, the rule for retaining applicant records was clarified to specify that records must be held for no longer than one year after the award year ends.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding data sharing was broadened from a specific list of institutions to any entity with a formal agreement, while the committee referral was updated to reflect the bill's new focus on postsecondary education.

REQUIREMENT

Expanded the list of entities that can receive student financial aid data to include any entity with a binding data-sharing agreement, not just institutions of higher education.

Added a mandatory requirement that any data sharing under the new expanded rules must be governed by a binding data-sharing agreement that prevents the recipient from sharing data with third parties.

TIMELINE

Clarified the retention period for applicant records, specifying they must be kept for no longer than one year following the end of the postsecondary institution's award year.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill number from H-2531.2 to H-3100.1 and changed the sponsor listing to reflect the new committee referral.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 2, 2026

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 4:00 PM.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Committee

Referred to Appropriations.

lower

Jan 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

Minority; without recommendation.

lower

Jan 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

Minority; do not pass.

lower

Jan 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM.

lower

Jan 14, 2026

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce at 1:30 PM.

lower

1 primary · 19 co-sponsors