What Happened to the Bills?


Kimberly Palmer-Yee, DC WSCA Legislative Director/Treasurer


At a Glance: How the WSCA Monitors All Healthcare Legislation During the Legislative Session


While most people assume that during legislative session, the Washington State Chiropractic Association (WSCA) is primarily concerned with bills we introduce or find sponsors for, or with legislation that could directly affect our scope of practice, reimbursement, or patient access, that is only part of the story.


The whole story is that we monitor all healthcare legislation and look for unintended consequences that could directly or indirectly impact chiropractic and our patients.


For example, during this past legislative session, the Washington State Legislature considered legislation concerning healthcare provider identification badges: House Bill 2261 (HB 2261) and its companion, Senate Bill 6166 (SB 6166), titled “Ensuring transparency in credentials and communications between patients and healthcare professionals.”


Key Provisions of HB 2261 / SB 6166 Your WSCA Legislative


• Mandatory identification badges: Licensed healthcare providers would be required to wear visible identification badges during patient encounters.


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Information displayed: Badges would need to include the provider’s name, specific healthcare credential, and educational degree initials.


• Advertising requirements: Public advertisements naming a healthcare provider would also need to clearly identify the provider’s exact credentials.


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Title protection: The legislation would restrict the use of certain surgical titles, such as “physician surgeon” and “osteopathic physician surgeon,” to professionals who meet specified residency, training requirements.


board certification, and •


Enforcement: Violations of these transparency and communication requirements could constitute unprofessional conduct under state licensing laws.


8 www .ch ir oh ealth.or g Team—Lori Grassi; me,


Dr. Kimberly Palmer Yee, your WSCA Legislative Representative; and Dr. Dave Butters, Chairman of the Washington State Chiropractic Trust—is committed to advocating for and protecting the chiropractic profession in Washington State.


We will be presenting at the WSCA Annual Conference this fall, and we have some exciting updates to share about what we have been working on and what is in the pipeline.


Please plan to join us. You won’t want to miss it!


Our profession is stronger when chiropractors understand what is happening in Olympia and why legislative advocacy matters. Even legislation that doesn’t appear to have anything to do with chiropractic can have an impact on how we practice.


This is why your WSCA membership—and your involvement—matters.


HB 2261 was introduced and referred to the House Committee on Health Care & Wellness during the 2026 legislative session. It received a public hearing in January 2026 but did not advance out of committee before the legislative cutoff, so it did not move forward during the remainder of the 2025–2026 biennium.


Did you hear about this bill? You might be wondering: How would this affect chiropractors?


If this legislation had passed as proposed, chiropractors would have been required to wear identification badges during patient care. At first glance, that may sound like a minor administrative requirement. But this is exactly why legislative monitoring matters.


Can you imagine wearing a magnetic-clip badge while performing a supine thoracic adjustment on a patient with a pacemaker? Or wearing a lanyard-style badge while positioning and adjusting patients? What may seem like a simple, harmless requirement on paper can create very real and unintended challenges in a clinical setting.


These are the kinds of unintended consequences we look for in every bill.


WSCA’s Executive of Legislation and Policy, Lori Grassi, is committed to identifying legislation that could benefit chiropractic, as well as legislation that could negatively affect our profession, our practices, or our patients. That work happens behind the scenes throughout the legislative session, often long before a bill ever becomes something that appears on a chiropractor’s radar.


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