---
type: "Bill"
title: "Exempting family home providers overseen and certified by a federal military service from child care licensing."
description: "Exempting family home providers overseen and certified by a federal military service from child care licensing."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2025-2026"
identifier: "SB 5545"
citation: "Washington SB 5545 (2025-2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Riccelli"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-01-28"
last_action: "2025-04-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0a461b54-1c4e-481a-b694-75e1574a3ce1"
source_url: "https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=5545&Year=2025&Initiative=false"
source_hash: "1f14fef9ae03ab5046c103b330a7b3f2dddbe65492ff6f22771de7c57006bfa1"
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 5545 (2025-2026) — Exempting family home providers overseen and certified by a federal military service from child care licensing.

## 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/2025-26/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5545.htm)
2. **Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2025-26/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5545-S.htm)
3. **Substitute Passed Legislature** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2025-26/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/5545-S.PL.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#28) — **49–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#31) — **95–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Riccelli — primary (person)
- Christian — cosponsor (person)
- Conway — cosponsor (person)
- Holy — cosponsor (person)
- Nobles — cosponsor (person)
- Valdez — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-28** First reading, referred to Early Learning & K-12 Education. `reading-1`
- **2025-02-12** Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education at 10:30 AM.
- **2025-02-18** Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education at 8:00 AM.
- **2025-02-18** EDU - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `substitution`
- **2025-02-19** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2025-02-26** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee. `reading-2`
- **2025-03-03** 1st substitute bill substituted (EDU 25). `substitution`
- **2025-03-03** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading. `reading-3`
- **2025-03-03** Third reading, passed; yeas, 49; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2025-03-05** First reading, referred to Early Learning & Human Services. `reading-1`
- **2025-03-26** Public hearing in the House Committee on Early Learning & Human Services at 1:30 PM.
- **2025-03-28** Executive action taken in the House Committee on Early Learning & Human Services at 8:30 AM.
- **2025-03-28** ELHS - Majority; do pass. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-31** Referred to Appropriations. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-05** Public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 9:00 AM.
- **2025-04-08** Executive action taken in the House Committee on Appropriations at 10:30 AM.
- **2025-04-08** APP - Majority; do pass. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-08** Referred to Rules 2 Review. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-10** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on second reading. `reading-2`
- **2025-04-10** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading. `reading-3`
- **2025-04-10** Third reading, passed; yeas, 95; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 3. `reading-3`
- **2025-04-16** President signed. `passage`
- **2025-04-18** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2025-04-22** Delivered to Governor. `executive-receipt`
- **2025-04-29** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-29** Chapter 181, 2025 Laws. `became-law`
- **2025-04-29** Effective date 7/27/2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0a461b54-1c4e-481a-b694-75e1574a3ce1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).