Governor Ferguson signs law allowing shared leave for employees facing immigration proceedings or hate-crime victimization

Governor Ferguson signed House Bill 2411, expanding Washington's shared leave program to allow state employees to use donated leave if they are absent for immigration proceedings or have been victimized by hate crimes.

State Representative Asmanslahuddin, the bill's sponsor at the event, told the ceremony, "Earlier this session, I stood on the house floor and shared a story... about an employee, a state employee, who's a legal resident, a single mother of a child, a 6 year old, who was detained by ICE and sent to Texas for 3 weeks." He said the coworkers "desperately wanted to help her" but previously could not donate leave under state law; HB 2411 changes that, he said, so "your coworkers can stand with you, and the law will stand with you."

Asmanslahuddin framed the bill as an extension of prior leave expansions that covered military families, survivors of domestic violence and new parents. He credited immigrant constituents, advocates and colleagues for advancing the measure and said the session produced several wins for immigrant and refugee neighbors.

Governor Ferguson signed the bill at the ceremony and participants posed for photographs. The transcript does not include implementation timelines or administrative guidance for employers or human-resources offices.