---
type: "Bill"
title: "Regarding an employer's payment of indebtedness upon the death of an employee."
description: "Regarding an employer's payment of indebtedness upon the death of an employee."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2017-2018"
identifier: "SB 6197"
citation: "Washington SB 6197 (2017-2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["LABOR", "WAGES AND HOURS", "DEATH", "PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND EMPLOYEES"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Keiser"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 18
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-01-10"
last_action: "2018-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dce71d20-5c04-4613-be9b-7164d65c71ee"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6197&year=2017"
source_hash: "bf8dbf37d136ab5be092109dc06970c422f5a855b9da14ec555bd4d7fbeff8e8"
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 SB 6197 (2017-2018) — Regarding an employer's payment of indebtedness upon the death of an employee.

## 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/Senate%20Bills/6197.htm)

## Votes

- Final Passage (#7) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#28) — **47–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Keiser — primary (person)
- Baumgartner — cosponsor (person)
- Conway — cosponsor (person)
- Hasegawa — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-10** First reading, referred to Labor & Commerce. `reading-1`
- **2018-01-22** LBRC - Majority; do pass.
- **2018-01-24** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2018-02-12** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2018-02-13** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2018-02-13** Third reading, passed; yeas, 47; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 2. `reading-3`
- **2018-02-15** First reading, referred to Labor & Workplace Standards (Not Officially read and referred until adoption of Introduction report). `reading-1`
- **2018-02-22** LAWS - Majority; do pass.
- **2018-02-23** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2018-02-28** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2018-03-02** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2018-03-02** Third reading, passed; yeas, 98; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2018-03-05** President signed. `passage`
- **2018-03-06** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2018-03-06** Delivered to Governor.
- **2018-03-13** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2018-03-13** Chapter 57, 2018 Laws. `became-law`
- **2018-03-13** Effective date 6/7/2018. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dce71d20-5c04-4613-be9b-7164d65c71ee`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).