language: en · status: in-force · last checked: 2026-09-06

Washington — RCW 19.375 (biometric identifiers)

A risk-weighted extraction (26 subscribers, but broad definitions): Washington's biometric statute regulates enrolling biometric identifiers in a database for a commercial purpose — notice, consent or a prevention mechanism required, with sale/disclosure and retention limits.

Applicability to EdTech

• "Biometric identifier" expressly includes eye retinas and irises (RCW 19.375.010(1)) but excludes photographs/video and data generated therefrom — important for camera-based features; and "enroll" requires matching to a specific individual.
• The operative rule (RCW 19.375.020) hinges on "commercial purpose" (marketing-related sale/disclosure) — narrower than Illinois BIPA, and enforced by the AG under the Consumer Protection Act (no private right of action).
• The My Health My Data Act (RCW 19.373) adds a consumer-health-data layer with a private right of action and broad biometric definitions — extract when a Washington consumer surface ships (README-level note).

Contents

Related

• FL §1002.222 — the school-side biometric ban
• IL SOPPA/BIPA (stub) — the private-right-of-action sibling

Sources

• app.leg.wa.gov — RCW 19.375

Meta

Statute text reproduced verbatim from the official Washington Legislature site by tools/us-states/build_states2.py; verify re-fetches and re-checks every paragraph.