wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > SB 5480 > Original Bill
Unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, the following words and phrases as hereinafter used in this chapter shall have the following meanings:
"Board" means the Washington state collection agency board.
"Claim" means any obligation for the payment of money or thing of value arising out of any agreement or contract, express or implied.
"Client" or "customer" means any person authorizing or employing a collection agency to collect a claim.
"Collection agency" means and includes:
Any person directly or indirectly engaged in soliciting claims for collection, or collecting or attempting to collect claims owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another person;
Any person who directly or indirectly furnishes or attempts to furnish, sells, or offers to sell forms represented to be a collection system or scheme intended or calculated to be used to collect claims even though the forms direct the debtor to make payment to the creditor and even though the forms may be or are actually used by the creditor himself or herself in his or her own name;
Any person who in attempting to collect or in collecting his or her own claim uses a fictitious name or any name other than his or her own which would indicate to the debtor that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such claim;
A debt buyer as defined in this section;
Any person or entity attempting to enforce a lien under chapter 60.44 RCW, other than the person or entity originally entitled to the lien.
"Collection agency" does not mean and does not include:
Any individual engaged in soliciting claims for collection, or collecting or attempting to collect claims on behalf of a licensee under this chapter, if said individual is an employee of the licensee;
Any individual collecting or attempting to collect claims for not more than one employer, if all the collection efforts are carried on in the name of the employer and if the individual is an employee of the employer;
Any person whose collection activities are carried on in his, her, or its true name and are confined and are directly related to the operation of a business other than that of a collection agency, such as but not limited to: Trust companies; savings and loan associations; building and loan associations; abstract companies doing an escrow business; real estate brokers; property management companies collecting assessments, charges, or fines on behalf of condominium unit owners associations, associations of apartment owners, or homeowners' associations; public officers acting in their official capacities; persons acting under court order; lawyers; insurance companies; credit unions; loan or finance companies; mortgage banks; and banks;
Any person who on behalf of another person prepares or mails monthly or periodic statements of accounts due if all payments are made to that other person and no other collection efforts are made by the person preparing the statements of account;
An "out-of-state collection agency" as defined in this chapter; or
Any person while acting as a debt collector for another person, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the person acting as a debt collector does so only for persons to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of the person is not the collection of debts.
"Commercial claim" means any obligation for payment of money or thing of value arising out of any agreement or contract, express or implied, where the transaction which is the subject of the agreement or contract is not primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.
"Debt buyer" means any person or entity that is engaged in the business of purchasing delinquent or charged off claims for collection purposes, whether it collects the claims itself or hires a third party for collection or an attorney for litigation in order to collect such claims.
"Debtor" means any person owing or alleged to owe a claim.
"Director" means the director of licensing.
"Licensee" means any person licensed under this chapter.
"Medical debt" means any obligation for the payment of money arising out of any agreement or contract, express or implied, for the provision of health care services as defined in RCW 48.44.010 and the following health care products and devices: Manual and electric wheelchairs, hospital beds for home use, mobility scooters, adjustable recliner chairs, continuous positive airway pressure machines, bi-level positive airway pressure machines, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, artificial or prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, cochlear implants, infusion pumps, insulin pumps, home dialysis machines, pacemakers, insulin management devices, stair and platform lifts, standing frames and walkers, heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitoring systems, in-home fetal monitors, cardiac monitors, defibrillators, custom-made or artificial eyes, advanced orthopedic implants, ventricular assist devices, dental implants, and voice amplifiers. Medical debt includes debt accrued using credit cards issued by a financial institution for the specific purpose and use of payment for health care services, products, and devices. In the context of "medical debt," "charity care" has the same meaning as provided in RCW 70.170.020.
"Out-of-state collection agency" means a person whose activities within this state are limited to collecting debts from debtors located in this state by means of interstate communications, including telephone, mail, or facsimile transmission, from the person's location in another state on behalf of clients located outside of this state, but does not include any person who is excluded from the definition of the term "debt collector" under the federal fair debt collection practices act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1692a(6)).
"Person" includes individual, firm, partnership, trust, joint venture, association, or corporation.
"Statement of account" means a report setting forth only amounts billed, invoices, credits allowed, or aged balance due.
A medical debt is void and unenforceable if a person, health care provider, health care facility, or licensed collection agency violates this section by furnishing information regarding the medical debt to a consumer credit reporting agency.
It is unlawful to enter into a contract creating a medical debt that does not include the following terms: "A holder of this medical debt is prohibited from furnishing any information related to this debt to a consumer credit reporting agency. In addition to any other penalties allowed by law, if a person, health care provider, or health care facility violates this section by furnishing information regarding this debt to a consumer credit reporting agency, the debt shall be void and unenforceable."
Any contract creating a medical debt entered into on or after the effective date of this section that does not include the term described in subsection (2) of this section is void and unenforceable.
The legislature finds that the practices covered by this section are matters vitally affecting the public interest for the purpose of applying the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW. A violation of this section is not reasonable in relation to the development and preservation of business and is an unfair or deceptive act in trade or commerce and an unfair method of competition for the purpose of applying the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW.
No licensee or employee of a licensee shall:
Except as authorized under subsection (2) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make a consumer report containing any of the following items of information:
Bankruptcies that, from date of adjudication of the most recent bankruptcy, antedate the report by more than ten years;
Suits and judgments that, from date of entry, antedate the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations has expired, whichever is the longer period;
Paid tax liens that, from date of payment, antedate the report by more than seven years;
Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss that antedate the report by more than seven years;
Records of arrest, indictment, or conviction of an adult for a crime that, from date of disposition, release, or parole, antedate the report by more than seven years;
Juvenile records, as defined in RCW 13.50.010(1)(f), when the subject of the records is twenty-one years of age or older at the time of the report;
Medical debt, as defined in RCW 19.16.100; and
Any other adverse item of information that antedates the report by more than seven years.
Subsection (1)(a) through (e) and (h) of this section is not applicable in the case of a consumer report to be used in connection with:
A credit transaction involving, or that may reasonably be expected to involve, a principal amount of fifty thousand dollars or more;
The underwriting of life insurance involving, or that may reasonably be expected to involve, a face amount of fifty thousand dollars or more; or
The employment of an individual at an annual salary that equals, or that may reasonably be expected to equal, twenty thousand dollars or more.
Prior to or upon discharge, a hospital must furnish each patient receiving inpatient services a written statement providing a list of physician groups and other professional partners that commonly provide care for patients at the hospital and from whom the patient may receive a bill, along with contact phone numbers for those groups. The statement must prominently display a phone number that a patient can call for assistance if the patient has any questions about any of the bills they receive after discharge that relate to their hospital stay.
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Hospitals, physician groups, and other professional partners may not furnish information relating to a medical debt as defined in RCW 19.16.100 to a consumer credit reporting agency. A medical debt is void and unenforceable if a hospital, physician group, or professional partner violates this subsection (2)(a).
A hospital, physician group, or professional partner must provide a statement to the patient which includes the following terms: "The holder of this medical debt is prohibited from furnishing any information related to this debt to a consumer credit reporting agency. In addition to any other penalties allowed by law, if the holder of this debt violates this provision, the debt is void and unenforceable."
A violation of (a) or (b) of this subsection is deemed a violation of the law governing the license of the hospital, physician group, or professional partner.
The legislature finds that the practices covered by this section are matters vitally affecting the public interest for the purpose of applying the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW. A violation of this section is not reasonable in relation to the development and preservation of business and is an unfair or deceptive act in trade or commerce and an unfair method of competition for the purpose of applying the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW.
This section does not apply to any hospital owned or operated by a health maintenance organization under chapter 48.46 RCW when providing prepaid health care services to enrollees of the health maintenance organization or any of its wholly owned subsidiary carriers.
The powers and duties of the secretary of social and health services under this chapter shall be performed by the secretary of health, except where specified in this chapter.