HB 2319 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Renaming certain state residential facilities for persons with developmental disabilities.

HB 2319 renames three state facilities currently referred to as "schools" in statutes to "residential habilitation centers" to better reflect their actual purpose of providing habilitative support (like daily living skills training and medical services) rather than education. Specifically, Fircrest School, Rainier School, and Yakima Valley School become Fircrest Residential Habilitation Center, Rainier Residential Habilitation Center, and Yakima Valley Residential Habilitation Center, respectively, while Lakeland Village retains its existing name. The bill clarifies that these name changes are purely administrative - no services, operations, or funding access will be altered. It also updates related statutes to use the new facility names consistently across state law.

Issues: ✓ Healthcare

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 7, 2026 Last action Mar 12, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Substitute Bill → Engrossed Substitute Bill · 4 edits · Feb 13, 2026

MODERATE

The bill renames three state residential facilities from 'schools' to 'residential habilitation centers' to clarify they are not educational institutions. This change updates the official names in the statute and removes the former 'Yakima Valley school' from the list of facilities that retain old name references, while keeping the new name for the Yakima Valley facility in other sections.

Scope change

The bill's scope is narrowed by removing 'Yakima Valley school' from the list of facilities where old name references remain valid, though the facility itself is still renamed in other parts of the act.

DEFINITION

Renamed Fircrest, Rainier, and Yakima Valley facilities from 'schools' to 'residential habilitation centers' to reflect their non-educational purpose.

Removed the clause stating that references to 'Yakima Valley school' retain full force and effect, limiting the list of old names that remain valid to only Fircrest and Rainier.

Updated the definition of 'Residential school' to list 'Yakima Valley school' instead of 'Yakima Valley residential habilitation center' in one specific section, creating an inconsistency with the renaming intent.

REQUIREMENT

Changed the legislative intent statement to clarify that the renaming applies to 'some' facilities rather than all, and updated the goal to make names consistent with their function.

Floor votes · House Feb 13, 2026

How they voted

73–23

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 100

Feb 13, 2026

D Democratic61

59 Yea 1 Nay 1

96% Yea

R Republican39

14 Yea 22 Nay 3

56% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

Minority; do not pass.

upper

Feb 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Feb 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Human Services at 8:00 AM.

upper

Feb 18, 2026

Upper · Passed

Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Human Services at 8:00 AM.

upper

Feb 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

Floor amendment(s) adopted.

lower

Jan 27, 2026

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Lower · Passed

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

lower

Jan 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

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

lower

1 primary · 5 co-sponsors