wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2262 > Original Bill
The legislature finds that advances in technology, evolving instructional priorities, and limited classroom time have led to a decline in the teaching of cursive handwriting and signature development in public schools. Because Washington state does not require cursive instruction, many students complete their education without learning how to sign their names in a clear, distinctive, and consistent manner.
The legislature also finds that when students are not taught how to develop and consistently reproduce a distinctive signature, they may face avoidable challenges in voting, entering into legal agreements, and conducting everyday civic and financial affairs. The legislature further finds that a legible and repeatable handwritten signature remains an essential life skill and a foundational element of civic participation. Despite the growth of electronic signatures, many important documents in Washington still require an original, wet ink signature to verify identity and intent. These documents include, but are not limited to, ballots, initiatives, voter registration forms, and other official documents that are required at the state and federal level. For many young people, the lack of a consistent signature can create barriers to fully exercising their rights and responsibilities.
Therefore, the legislature, through education and reporting requirements, intends to promote instruction that equips public school students with the ability to sign their names legibly and consistently as a practical life skill and as a matter of civic education, helping ensure that future generations are prepared to participate in our democratic process and in the legal and economic life of our state.
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Beginning with or before the 2020-21 school year, each school district that operates a high school must provide a mandatory one-half credit stand-alone course in civics for each high school student. Except as provided by (c) of this subsection, civics content and instruction embedded in other social studies courses do not satisfy the requirements of this subsection.
Credit awarded to students who complete the civics course must be applied to course credit requirements in social studies that are required for high school graduation.
Civics content and instruction required by this section may be embedded in social studies courses that offer students the opportunity to earn both high school and postsecondary credit.
The content of the civics course must include, but is not limited to:
Federal, state, tribal, and local government organization and procedures;
Rights and responsibilities of citizens addressed in the Washington state and United States Constitutions, including the statement of student rights and materials delineated in RCW 28A.230.005;
Current issues addressed at each level of government;
Electoral issues, including elections, ballot measures, initiatives, and referenda;
The study and completion of the civics component of the federally administered naturalization test required of persons seeking to become naturalized United States citizens;
The importance in a free society of living the basic values and character traits specified in RCW 28A.150.211; and
Beginning with or before the 2027-28 school year, instruction in producing a legible, repeatable official cursive signature, and how signatures are used by election officials in election, initiative, referenda, and recall processes. The development of curriculum for use in the instruction may be coordinated with the office of the secretary of state and county auditors in accordance with the community outreach plan required by RCW 29A.60.168.
By September 1, 2020, the office of the superintendent of public instruction, in collaboration with the Washington state association of county auditors and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization engaged in voter outreach and increasing voter participation, shall identify and make available civics materials and resources for use in courses under this section. The materials and resources must be posted on the office of the superintendent of public instruction's website.
Beginning with the report issued for the 2027-28 school year, the state board of education's system of annual monitoring of school district compliance with basic education requirements must include information about which school districts are offering, as required by RCW 28A.230.094, instruction to students in producing a legible, repeatable official cursive signature, and how signatures are used by election officials.
Every odd-numbered year, the secretary of state must conduct and publish a statewide survey of voted ballot rejection rates and the reasons for those rejections by county auditors and canvassing boards. The secretary of state must collect data from reconciliation reports and county auditors in order to compare county and statewide averages for rates of rejected ballots and reasons for those ballots being rejected. The data collected must include rejection rates and reasons for rejection of voted ballots for all elections, including the number and rates of ballots that were rejected for signature mismatch by voter age groupings. The survey must include an analysis of current practices by county auditors and canvassing boards in the acceptance and rejection of ballots, and include recommendations for improvements that minimize rejections in those practices, with a goal of statewide standardization where applicable. The results must also be analyzed and compared with available national data and recognized best practices. The secretary of state's recommendations and reports must be made available to the public and provided to the office of the superintendent of public instruction for inclusion in their website content pertaining to civic education.
Any elections reports for the state that are published annually by the secretary of state must: (a) Include the number and rates of ballots that were rejected for signature mismatch by voter age groupings; and (b) be provided to the office of the superintendent of public instruction for inclusion in their website content pertaining to civic education.