HB 2191 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Concerning workers' wages and benefits in the construction industry.

HB 2191 requires owners and direct contractors to jointly pay unpaid wages and benefits (including health insurance, retirement contributions, and tool reimbursements) to construction workers when subcontractors fail to pay. It creates a direct legal path for workers, their representatives, or the attorney general to sue owners or direct contractors for withheld payments, rather than only pursuing subcontractors. The bill establishes a rebuttable presumption that workers are employees (not independent contractors), prevents liability waivers for nonpayment, and sets a 3-year deadline for filing claims. This directly affects construction workers, subcontractors, and higher-tier contractors across all project tiers in Washington state.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Dec 23, 2025 Last action Feb 19, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Bill → Substitute Bill · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to reclassify it as a Substitute Bill and update procedural details. Substantively, the definitions were expanded to include 'authorized third party representatives' and 'unrepresented employees,' and a new definition for 'construction trade labor organization' was added to clarify how collective bargaining agreements interact with the new wage protection rules.

Scope change

The bill's scope was refined to explicitly define 'unrepresented employees' and clarify the role of labor organizations in waiving certain liability requirements, ensuring the protections apply specifically to workers without union representation.

DEFINITION

Added new definitions for 'authorized third party representative,' 'construction trade labor organization,' and 'unrepresented employee' to clarify who the law protects and how unions factor into liability.

Modified the definition of 'reimbursements' to specifically apply to 'unrepresented employees,' distinguishing their rights from those of unionized workers.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill header to reflect it is now a Substitute Bill, changed the reading date to 01/30/26, and added the committee referral information.

REQUIREMENT

Reorganized the legislative findings to include a specific reference to a 2025 task force report recommending contractor liability for subcontractor wages.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jan 30, 2026

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Lower · Passed

Minority; without recommendation.

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Lower · Passed

Minority; do not pass.

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards at 8:00 AM.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Lower · Passed

Executive session scheduled, but no action was taken in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards at 10:30 AM.

lower

Jan 14, 2026

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards at 8:00 AM.

lower

1 primary · 26 co-sponsors