HB 1047 requires medicine manufacturers to create, fund, and operate a convenient statewide collection and disposal program for unused medicines.

Introduced in January 2017, HB 1047 passed the House Health Care & Wellness Committee on Feb. 15, 2017 and Appropriations Feb. 21. Though it did not move to a floor vote prior to the 2017 cut-off date, the bill was taken up again in 2018, the second year of the biennium, and ultimately passed and was signed into law by Governor Inslee on March 22, 2018.

Watch video of the Jan. 24, 2017 hearing in the House Committee on Health Care & Wellness.

The bill is similar to the Secure Medicine Return / MED-Project stewardship programs, funded by manufacturers and mandated by local health ordinances, currently operating in King and Snohomish counties, planned for Pierce, Kitsap, Clallam, and Whatcom counties, and passed in March 2018 in Skagit County.