wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 1926 > Substitute Bill
The department shall collaborate with the department of social and health services to work with stakeholders to develop a plan to integrate testing into the home care aide training process and conduct necessary rule making using a phased transition approach that prioritizes community and facility-based training programs that are already equipped and staffed to provide testing.
Except as provided in RCW 18.88B.041, any person hired as a long-term care worker must be certified as a home care aide as provided in rules established by the department in consultation with the department of social and health services. A long-term care worker who is not currently certified or eligible to reactivate an expired credential shall receive a new date of hire when beginning work with either a new employer or returning to a former employer after prior employment has ended.
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No person may practice or, by use of any title or description, represent himself or herself as a certified home care aide without being certified as provided in this chapter.
This section does not prohibit a person: (i) From practicing a profession for which the person has been issued a license or which is specifically authorized under this state's laws; or (ii) who is exempt from certification under RCW 18.88B.041 from providing services as a long-term care worker.
In consultation with consumer and worker representatives, the department shall, by January 1, 2013, establish by rule a single scope of practice that encompasses both long-term care workers who are certified home care aides and long-term care workers who are exempted from certification under RCW 18.88B.041.
If a pandemic, natural disaster, or other declared state of emergency impacts the ability of long-term care workers to complete certification as required by this section, the department may adopt rules to allow long-term care workers additional time to become certified.
Rules adopted under this subsection (3) are effective until the termination of the pandemic, natural disaster, or other declared state of emergency or until the department determines that additional time for long-term care workers to become certified is no longer necessary, whichever is later. Once the department determines a rule adopted under this subsection (3) is no longer necessary, it must repeal the rule under RCW 34.05.353.
Within 12 months of the termination of the pandemic, natural disaster, or other declared state of emergency, the department shall conduct a review of certification compliance with subsection (1) of this section and rules adopted under this subsection (3) and provide the legislature with a report.
The department shall adopt rules to implement this section.
Except as provided in RCW 18.88B.041 and subject to the other requirements of this chapter, to be certified as a home care aide, a long-term care worker must successfully complete the training required under RCW 74.39A.074(1) and a certification examination. Any long-term care worker failing to make the required grade for the examination may not be certified as a home care aide.
The department, in consultation with consumer and worker representatives, shall develop a home care aide certification examination to evaluate whether an applicant possesses the skills and knowledge necessary to practice competently.
The examination or series of examinations shall include both a skills demonstration and a written or oral knowledge test. The department shall establish rules governing the number of times and under what circumstances individuals who have failed the examination may sit for the examination, including whether any intermediate remedial steps should be required. The skills demonstration, the knowledge test, or both, may be administered throughout training, on the last day of training, or after a student's formal training. An applicant may apply to take the examination during or after training. An applicant may not sit for any part of the examination prior to completing the part of the training associated with that part of the examination. The examination or series of examinations may be conducted at local training or testing sites around the state. For the purpose of reducing the travel time for applicants, the department shall explore alternative testing options such as remote testing.
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All examinations shall be conducted by fair and wholly impartial methods. All examinations shall be available to be administered in the preferred language for the applicant taking the examination. The certification examination shall be administered and evaluated by:
The department;
A contractor to the department that is not an employer of long-term care workers unless the employer is a department of social and health services approved instructor and has met the department standards for administering the examination; or
A high school or community college that has met department standards for administering the examination.
The department shall conduct an annual evaluation of the examination results of applicants who complete the examination in all languages. If the department finds that applicants taking the examination in a particular language fail at a disproportionately higher rate than other examination takers, the department shall conduct a review of the translation to ensure that it is accurate and understandable.
Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, home care aide testing shall be available in qualified facility and community-based home care aide training programs by July 1, 2028, with testing conducted by facility and community trainers contracted with the department of social and health services or a training partnership affiliate. If the department has any contracts for personal care services with any individual providers represented by an exclusive bargaining representative, all home care aide testing required under this chapter for those individual providers must be provided by a training partnership affiliate.
The department shall adopt rules to implement this section.
For purposes of this section, "training partnership affiliate" means a Washington nonprofit corporation that will contract with the department of social and health services or its designee to provide home care aide testing required under this chapter.