House passes bill extending health-professional monitoring to nursing assistants
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Summary
The House approved House Bill 23 40 to apply substance use disorder monitoring program provisions to nursing assistants; sponsor Representative Simmons described personal experience with recovery and urged the law extend protections that allow licensed workers to continue practicing while monitored.
House Bill 23 40, which extends substance use-disorder monitoring program provisions to nursing assistants, passed the House after floor remarks from the sponsor and supportive colleagues.
Representative Colleen Simmons (23rd District) described her own experience of treatment and monitoring under the Washington Health Professional Services program and said she supports adding nursing assistants to the program so they can keep their licenses while in monitored recovery. “This bill takes the bill that I did a few years ago and adds nursing assistants into it,” Simmons said, recounting a constituent story and her own recovery history.
Representative Schmick (9th District) emphasized the bill’s self-reporting mechanism and the value of preserving licenses for health-care workers who participate in monitoring, saying the process allows people to “rectify and get their lives back on track.” The bill includes an effective date noted on the floor record of July 1, 2026.
On the roll call the clerk reported 92 yays, 3 nays and 3 excused; the Speaker declared the bill passed.
Next steps listed in the House record are procedural (enrollment and transmittal); the floor debate focused on the balance between public safety and workforce retention in health care settings.