WSIA

As of 3/25/25

The Washington State Legislature is currently considering SB 5463, a bill that would expand the "duty of good faith and fair dealing" in all aspects of compliance with Title 51 (the Industrial Insurance Act) to all self-insured employers and third-party administrators.

Presently, following legislation in 2023 establishing the duty and imposing new penalties for violations of the duty, it applies only to "municipal" self-insured employers, as defined, and large private sector firefighting units.

SB 5463 would apply the duty and penalties and risk of decertification for violations on all self-insured employers.

WSIA is opposed to SB 5463 for multiple reasons for the risk and uncertainty applying the still untested standard of "good faith and fair dealing" to private employers may cause, particularly as it relates to severe sanctions and the possibility of being defaulted by Labor & Industries and put into the State Fund -- losing millions of dollars in collateral obligations backing private self-insured programs.

The bill was heard in the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee on February 4th.

It was voted out of the Committee on a party-line vote on February 11th.

It passed the Senate on a mostly party-line vote on March 5th.

It was heard in the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee on March 18th.

It was voted out of the House committee on March 21.

It is now in the House Appropriations Committee, where it faces a deadline of April 8th to be heard and voted out of that committee.

It has a deadline of April 16th to be considered/voted on the House floor. If it passes in an unamended form in the House, it goes straight to the Governor for signature. If it is amended in the House, it must return to the Senate for reconciliation.

Here are our latest fact sheets:

Employer and Trade Association Opposition Memo on SB 5463

Oppose SB 5463

SB 5463 Myth vs Fact

Attorney General and L&I Fiscal Note on SB 5463

Here is an e-mail that was sent into the full Senate on 02/26 by AWB and WSIA after the bill was placed on the floor calendar.

For more information, contact WSIA legislative advocates Kris Tefft or Christine Brewer.