WashingtonHB 21922025-2026 Regular SessionHouse

Updating the role of the Washington traffic safety commission in identifying the risk factors that lead to roadway fatalities.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

Expert reviews examine deadly Washington crashes

Beginning June 11, 2026, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission takes over crash reviews from the former council review process. It may form expert committees, examine relevant crash and medical records within legal limits, and recommend safety improvements. Published reports must exclude identifying details, including information that could identify someone when combined with readily available public records. Reviews of pedestrian, bicyclist, or other active transportation deaths must include Cooper Jones active transportation safety council members, but fewer than a quorum. The commission must share results at a regular council meeting and present reports in the calendar year the review is published.

Washington links records to study deadly crashes

Beginning June 11, 2026, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission becomes a public health authority focused on deadly and serious-injury crashes. State and local police must provide crash reports, toxicology reports, and related investigation records; Licensing must provide driver records for fatal crashes. The commission may collect health records, link them in a secure database, and study traffic-death causes and trends. Health information may be used only for the purposes of the state's traffic safety commission law. The commission may produce anonymous reports and share reports and underlying data with the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, subject to confidentiality protections.

Crash reviews gain privacy and lawsuit limits

Beginning June 11, 2026, specified commission crash-review records are confidential, and committee meetings and discussions are closed to the public. Confidential information is limited to the law's purposes; recommendations may be shared without personal identifiers. Committee discussions and commission-prepared documents, except final reports, generally cannot be used in civil or administrative cases. Older or independently created documents do not become inadmissible just because a review uses them. Commission representatives and committee members have civil immunity for review work done in good faith, without malice, and within required protocols. The law creates no private right to sue except for bad-faith disclosure of protected confidential information.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Sam Low
Republican • House

Cosponsors

Alex Ramel
Democratic • House
Beth Doglio
Democratic • House
Brandy Donaghy
Democratic • House
Brianna Thomas
Democratic • House
Chipalo Street
Democratic • House
Cindy Ryu
Democratic • House
Davina Duerr
Democratic • House
Janice Zahn
Democratic • House
Joe Timmons
Democratic • House
Julia Reed
Democratic • House
Mari Leavitt
Democratic • House
Natasha Hill
Democratic • House
Steve Bergquist
Democratic • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 142 • No: 3

Senate vote • 3/6/2026

3rd Reading & Final Passage

Yes: 46 • No: 2 • Other: 1

House vote • 2/17/2026