SB 5993 — Prohibiting interest charges for new and unpaid medical debt.

ENGROSSEDS-3585.1 SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5993 (Corrected Copy) State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session By Senate Law & Justice (originally sponsored by Senators Alvarado, Riccelli, Bateman, Conway, Frame, Hasegawa, Liias, Lovelett, Lovick, Nobles, Orwall, Slatter, Stanford, Trudeau, Valdez, and C.

Wilson)Wilson READPrefiled FIRST01/06/26. TIME 01/23/26.

ANRead ACTfirst Relatingtime to01/12/26. lowering the interest rate for medical debt;

andReferred amendingto RCWCommittee 19.52.010.on Law & Justice.

AN ACT Relating to prohibiting interest charges for new and unpaid medical debt;

and amending RCW 19.52.010, 6.17.020, 4.56.190, and 4.56.210.

(2)(a)(2)(((a) ((Prejudgment))Prejudgment Forinterest)) anyInterest medical debt accrued after December 31, 2026, interest may not be charged or collected ((on))on innew excessor ofunpaid amedical simpledebt((, interestas ratedefined ofin oneRCW percent per year on new p.

1 ESSBSB 5993 medical debt, as defined in RCW 19.16.100, ((mustmust not exceed nine percent)) whetherafter beforethe oreffective afterdate entry of judgment.this section.

(b)(((b) ((ForFor any medical debt for which prejudgment interest has accrued or may be accruing as of July 28, 2019, no prejudgment interest in excess of nine percent shall accrue thereafter))thereafter.)) Notwithstanding(3) subsectionA (a)lease ofshall this section, interest may not be chargedconsidered ora collectedloan onor medicalforbearance debtfor duringthe anypurposes periodof inthis which:chapter if:

(i) The hospital has not completed any required charity care screening and initial determination conducted in compliance with chapter 70.170 RCW;

(ii) The medical debt is later determined to be invalid or not lawfully owed;

or (iii) The medical debt is later determined by a court of competent jurisdiction or by operation of law to be not legally enforceable.

(c) If a medical debt is later reduced or eliminated under chapter 70.170 RCW, or is later determined to be invalid, not lawfully owed, or not legally enforceable, any interest charged or collected on or after the effective date of this section on the portion of the medical debt reduced or eliminated is void and must be refunded.

(3) A lease shall not be considered a loan or forbearance for the purposes of this chapter if:

Sec.

2.

RCW 6.17.020 and 2022 c 260 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsections (2), (3), and (4) of this section, the party in whose favor a judgment of a court has been or may be filed or rendered, or the assignee or the current holder thereof, may have an execution, garnishment, or other legal process issued for the collection or enforcement of the judgment at any time within 10 years from entry of the judgment or the filing of the judgment in this state.

(2) After July 23, 1989, a party who obtains a judgment or order of a court or an administrative order entered as defined in RCW 74.20A.020(6) for accrued child support, or the assignee or the current holder thereof, may have an execution, garnishment, or other legal process issued upon that judgment or order at any time within 10 years of the 18th birthday of the youngest child named in the order for whom support is ordered.

(3) After June 9, 1994, a party in whose favor a judgment has been filed as a foreign judgment or rendered pursuant to subsection (1) or (4) of this section, or the assignee or the current holder thereof, may, within 90 days before the expiration of the original 10-year period, apply to the court that rendered the judgment or to p.

2 SB 5993 the court where the judgment was filed as a foreign judgment for an order granting an additional 10 years during which an execution, garnishment, or other legal process may be issued.

If a district court judgment of this state is transcribed to a superior court of this state, the original district court judgment shall not be extended and any petition under this section to extend the judgment that has been transcribed to superior court shall be filed in the superior court within 90 days before the expiration of the 10-year period of the date the transcript of the district court judgment was filed in the superior court of this state.

The petitioner shall pay to the court a filing fee equal to the filing fee for filing the first or initial paper in a civil action in the court, except in the case of district court judgments transcribed to superior court, where the filing fee shall be the fee for filing the first or initial paper in a civil action in the superior court where the judgment was transcribed.

The order granting the application shall contain an updated judgment summary as provided in RCW 4.64.030.

The filing fee required under this subsection shall be included in the judgment summary and shall be a recoverable cost.

The application shall be granted as a matter of right, subject to review only for timeliness, factual issues of full or partial satisfaction, or errors in calculating the judgment summary amounts.

(4)(a) A party who obtains a judgment or order for restitution pursuant to a criminal judgment and sentence, or the assignee or the current holder thereof, may execute, garnish, and/or have legal process issued upon the judgment or order any time within 10 years subsequent to the entry of the judgment and sentence or 10 years following the offender's release from total confinement as provided in chapter 9.94A RCW.

The clerk of (([the])) the superior court, or a party designated by the clerk, may seek extension under subsection (3) of this section for purposes of collection as allowed under RCW 36.18.190, provided that no filing fee shall be required.

(b) A party who obtains a judgment or order for court-ordered legal financial obligations other than restitution, pursuant to a criminal judgment and sentence, or the assignee or the current holder thereof, may execute, garnish, and have legal process issued upon the judgment or order any time within 10 years subsequent to the entry of the judgment and sentence or 10 years following the offender's release from total confinement as provided in chapter 9.94A RCW.

The clerk of (([the])) the superior court, or a party designated by the p.

3 SB 5993 clerk, may seek extension under subsection (3) of this section for purposes of collection as allowed under RCW 36.18.190, only if the court finds that the offender has the current or likely future ability to pay the nonrestitution legal financial obligations.

A person does not have the current ability to pay if the person is indigent as defined in RCW 10.01.160(3).

No filing fee shall be required for filing a petition for an extension pursuant to this subsection (4)(b).

(5) "Court" as used in this section includes but is not limited to the United States supreme court, the United States courts of appeals, the United States district courts, the United States bankruptcy courts, the Washington state supreme court, the court of appeals of the state of Washington, superior courts and district courts of the counties of the state of Washington, and courts of other states and jurisdictions from which judgment has been filed in this state under chapter 6.36 ((or 6.40)) RCW.

(6) The perfection of any judgment lien and the priority of that judgment lien on property as established by RCW 6.13.090 and chapter 4.56 RCW is not altered by the extension of the judgment pursuant to the provisions of this section and the lien remains in full force and effect and does not have to be rerecorded after it is extended.

Continued perfection of a judgment that has been transcribed to other counties and perfected in those counties may be accomplished after extension of the judgment by filing with the clerk of the other counties where the judgment has been filed either a certified copy of the order extending the judgment or a certified copy of the docket of the matter where the judgment was extended.

(7) Except as ordered in RCW 4.16.020 (2) or (3), chapter 9.94A RCW, or chapter 13.40 RCW, no judgment is enforceable for a period exceeding 20 years from the date of entry in the originating court.

Nothing in this section may be interpreted to extend the expiration date of a foreign judgment beyond the expiration date under the laws of the jurisdiction where the judgment originated.

(8) The chapter 261, Laws of 2002 amendments to this section apply to all judgments currently in effect on June 13, 2002, to all judgments extended after June 9, 1994, unless the judgment has been satisfied, vacated, and/or quashed, and to all judgments filed or rendered, or both, after June 13, 2002.

(9) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, if a judgment includes any amount of medical debt as defined in RCW p.