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The Washington State Department of Health is a state agency of Washington. It is headquartered in
Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. Europea ...
. The agency was created by the state legislature in May 1989 after splitting from the
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) is Washington's social services department. The agency has its headquarters in Office Building Two (OB-2) in Olympia, the state capital. Annually, 2.2 million children, families, vulnerable adul ...
.


Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission

States have historically provided a conscience clause right allowing pharmacists to refrain from participating in abortions. In June 2006, the Pharmacy Board of the Washington State Department of Health rejected a draft rule proposed by Governor
Christine Gregoire Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and ag ...
to require all pharmacies to begin carrying Plan B
levonorgestrel Levonorgestrel is a hormonal medication which is used in a number of birth control methods. It is combined with an estrogen to make combination birth control pills. As an emergency birth control, sold under the brand name Plan B One-Step amon ...
.Jason R. Mau, Stormans ''and the Pharmacists: Where Have All the Conscientious Rx Gone?''
114 Penn St. L. Rev. 293 (2009).
Governor Gregoire responded by releasing a public statement warning the Board members to reconsider or they could be removed. In July 2006, the Washington State Human Rights Commission warned the Board members that they would be personally liable for illegally discriminating against women if they did not pass the Governor's Plan B rule. In April 2007, the Board approved a final rule prohibiting pharmacies from not stocking Plan B for religious reasons but allowing exemptions for "good faith" business reasons. When Ralph's Thriftway, a grocery store in Olympia, refused for religious reasons to carry Plan B, it was widely boycotted, leading Gregoire to cancel the grocer's longstanding account with the
Washington Governor's Mansion The Washington Governor's Mansion is the official residence of the governor of Washington. The Georgian-style mansion is located on the grounds of the State Capitol campus in the capital city Olympia. It is on the crest of Capitol Point, with ...
. The only complaints for violating the Plan B rule were filed against the grocer. The grocer sued but, instead of alleging violations of the broader
Constitution of Washington The Constitution of the State of Washington is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Washington. The constitution was adopted as part of Washington Territory's path to statehood in 1889. An e ...
, its attorneys at the
Alliance Defending Freedom Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group that works to curtail rights for LGBTQ people; expand Christian practices within public schools and in government; and ...
and the
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Becket Law (formerly the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty) is a non-profit public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C., that describes its mission as "defending the freedom of religion of people of all faiths." Becket promotes accommodat ...
only filed under the
Free Exercise Clause The Free Exercise Clause accompanies the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The ''Establishment Clause'' and the ''Free Exercise Clause'' together read: Free exercise is the liberty of persons to re ...
of the
United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
.Noel E. Horton, ''Article I, Section 11: A Poor "Plan B" for Washington's Religious Pharmacists"
85 Wash. L Rev. 739 (2010).
On November 8, 2007, U.S. District Judge
Ronald B. Leighton Ronald Bruce Leighton (born 1951) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Education and career Born in Stockton, California, Leighton received a Bachelor of Arts degre ...
granted the grocer a preliminary injunction blocking the rule. On May 1, 2008,
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...
Judges Thomas G. Nelson and Jay Bybee denied the state a stay of the injunction pending appeal, over a dissent by Judge
A. Wallace Tashima Atsushi Wallace Tashima (born June 24, 1934) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Central Distric ...
. However, on July 8, 2009, Circuit Judge
Kim McLane Wardlaw Kim McLane Wardlaw (born July 2, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1998. She is the first Hispanic American woman to be appointed to a federal appeals c ...
, joined by Richard Clifton and
N. Randy Smith Norman Randy Smith (born August 11, 1949) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He lives and maintains chambers in Pocatello, Idaho. Background A native of southeastern Idaho, Smith a ...
reversed the preliminary injunction. On February 22, 2012, after four years of discovery and a twelve-day bench trial, Judge Leighton issued a permanent injunction blocking the Plan B rule as unconstitutional. On July 23, 2015, Circuit Judge Susan P. Graber, joined by Judges Mary H. Murguia and Richard Clifton reversed. The grocer's petition for
certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
from the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
was denied on June 28, 2016. Justice
Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has serve ...
, joined by Chief Justice
John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...
and Justice
Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1 ...
, dissented, writing that "the rules challenged here reflect antipathy towards religious beliefs that do not accord with the views of those holding the levers of government power."


Public Records Act

In '' Harris v. Quinn'' (2014) the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
gave home healthcare workers the right to not join their union. The Freedom Foundation reacted by filing a Public Record Act request for a list of home healthcare workers from the Department so it could encourage the workers to leave the union. The Department refused, then encouraged the
Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...
to sue the Department to prevent the disclosure. The SEIU lost its lawsuit in the superior, appeals, and
Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. Justices must retire ...
. The SEIU responded by putting Washington Initiative 1501 on the Washington elections, 2016 ballot, which would change the Public Record Act to forbid departments from disclosing union members' names. The ballot initiative was approved with 70% of the vote.


Gender X

From January 27, 2018 "gender X" will be legally available by regulations from existing Washington State Department of Health records only, to amend birth certificates.


2020 Coronavirus pandemic

In early March 2020, coronavirus cases within Washington state grew along with the rest of the country. Washington State Department of Health officials requested, from the federal government's
Strategic National Stockpile The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), originally called the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS), is the United States' national repository of antibiotics, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, and other critical medical supplies. Its ...
(the U.S. government's repository of drugs, vaccines and equipment to be used in major public health emergencies), 233,000 respirators and 200,000 surgical masks. The initial federal response was disappointing. The SNS could provide only 93,600
N95 An N95 filtering facepiece respirator, commonly abbreviated N95 respirator, is a particulate-filtering facepiece respirator that meets the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) NIOSH air filtration rating#NIOSH cl ...
respirators and 100,200 surgical masks. After public criticism, the federal government announced it would deliver all of the requested items to Washington state.


References


External links


Washington State Department of Health
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Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...
State departments of health of the United States Medical and health organizations based in Washington (state) 1989 establishments in Washington (state)