---
type: "Bill"
title: "Improving the Indian behavioral health system."
description: "Improving the Indian behavioral health system."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "SB 6259"
citation: "Washington SB 6259 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER", "INDIANS", "HEALTH CARE AUTHORITY", "MENTAL HEALTH"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["McCoy"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 36
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2020-01-14"
last_action: "2020-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/74dc6c19-eaec-43a5-9f02-1751abf161b9"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6259&year=2019"
source_hash: "9c2f0279942ed71da45d241bc8c1a9acbb64eba61eaeec405268b97d4aa113dc"
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 6259 (2019-2020) — Improving the Indian behavioral health system.

## 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/2019-20/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/6259.htm)
2. **Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2019-20/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/6259-S.htm)

## Votes

- Final Passage as Amended by the House (#10) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Final Passage as Amended by the House (#34) — **49–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#9) — **46–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- McCoy — primary (person)
- Darneille — cosponsor (person)
- Das — cosponsor (person)
- Hasegawa — cosponsor (person)
- Nguyen — cosponsor (person)
- Stanford — cosponsor (person)
- Van De Wege — cosponsor (person)
- Wilson, C. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-14** First reading, referred to Health & Long Term Care. `reading-1`
- **2020-01-15** Referred to Behavioral Health Subcommittee to Health & Long Term Care.
- **2020-02-06** BH - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2020-02-07** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2020-02-11** Placed on second reading consent calendar.
- **2020-02-13** 1st substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2020-02-06** BH - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2020-02-07** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2020-02-11** Placed on second reading consent calendar.
- **2020-02-13** 1st substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2020-02-13** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2020-02-13** Third reading, passed; yeas, 46; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 3. `reading-3`
- **2020-02-16** First reading, referred to Health Care & Wellness. `reading-1`
- **2020-02-25** HCW - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).
- **2020-02-28** Referred to Appropriations.
- **2020-03-02** APP - Majority; do pass with amendment(s) by Health Care & Wellness.
- **2020-03-03** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2020-03-04** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading.
- **2020-03-05** Committee amendment(s) adopted with no other amendments.
- **2020-03-05** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2020-03-05** Third reading, passed; yeas, 97; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 1. `reading-3`
- **2020-03-10** Senate concurred in House amendments.
- **2020-03-10** Passed final passage; yeas, 49; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `passage`
- **2020-03-12** President signed. `passage`
- **2020-03-12** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2020-03-12** Delivered to Governor.
- **2020-03-31** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-31** Chapter 256, 2020 Laws. `became-law`
- **2020-03-31** Effective date 6/11/2020*. `became-law`
- **2020-01-15T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Health & Long Term Care at 01:30 PM
- **2020-01-31T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Behavioral Health Subcommittee to Health & Long Term Care at 01:30 PM
- **2020-02-06T13:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Behavioral Health Subcommittee to Health & Long Term Care at 08:00 AM
- **2020-02-21T13:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Health Care & Wellness at 08:30 AM
- **2020-02-25T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Health Care & Wellness at 01:30 PM
- **2020-02-29T14:00:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 09:00 AM
- **2020-03-02T18:30:00+00:00** Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 01:30 PM

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/74dc6c19-eaec-43a5-9f02-1751abf161b9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).