---
type: "Bill"
title: "Allowing alternative payment methodologies for critical access hospitals participating in the Washington rural health access preservation pilot."
description: "Allowing alternative payment methodologies for critical access hospitals participating in the Washington rural health access preservation pilot."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2017-2018"
identifier: "HB 1520"
citation: "Washington HB 1520 (2017-2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["PUBLIC ASSISTANCE", "HOSPITALS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Tharinger"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 32
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-01-23"
last_action: "2017-05-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c7718fc8-ff04-43eb-8e55-9c73d83a6a9c"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1520&year=2017"
source_hash: "f623c5e5457e90c8299db7aaf6bd5f2e53cf5be473ac501d621789d2a09d5a61"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-wa"]
---

# Washington HB 1520 (2017-2018) — Allowing alternative payment methodologies for critical access hospitals participating in the Washington rural health access preservation pilot.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2017-18/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/1520.htm)
2. **Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2017-18/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/1520-S.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage as Amended by the Senate (#8) — **49–0** (pass) · upper
- Final Passage (#7) — **95–2** (pass) · lower
- Final Passage as Amended by the Senate (#4) — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Tharinger — primary (person)
- Cody — cosponsor (person)
- Schmick — cosponsor (person)
- Short — cosponsor (person)
- Springer — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-23** First reading, referred to Health Care & Wellness (Not Officially read and referred until adoption of Introduction report). `reading-1`
- **2017-02-14** HCW - Majority; do pass.
- **2017-02-15** Referred to Appropriations.
- **2017-02-23** APP - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2017-02-24** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2017-03-01** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2017-03-03** 1st substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2017-02-23** APP - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2017-02-24** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2017-03-01** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2017-03-03** 1st substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2017-03-03** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2017-03-03** Third reading, passed; yeas, 95; nays, 2; absent, 0; excused, 1. `reading-3`
- **2017-03-07** First reading, referred to Health Care. `reading-1`
- **2017-03-23** HLTH - Majority; do pass.
- **2017-03-23** And refer to Ways & Means. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-27** Referred to Ways & Means.
- **2017-04-04** WM - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).
- **2017-04-04** Minority; without recommendation.
- **2017-04-04** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2017-04-06** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2017-04-11** Committee amendment(s) adopted with no other amendments.
- **2017-04-11** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2017-04-11** Third reading, passed; yeas, 49; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2017-04-13** House concurred in Senate amendments.
- **2017-04-13** Passed final passage; yeas, 96; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 2. `passage`
- **2017-04-18** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2017-04-19** President signed. `passage`
- **2017-04-20** Delivered to Governor.
- **2017-05-05** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2017-05-05** Chapter 198, 2017 Laws. `became-law`
- **2017-05-05** Effective date 7/23/2017. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c7718fc8-ff04-43eb-8e55-9c73d83a6a9c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).