The topic of Commercial and Professional Liability Insurance has been ongoing since at least 2018. The issue at hand has been related to sub-limits being placed on liability insurance policies that fell below the $500,000 per occurrence/$1,000,000 aggregate requirements contained in WAC 388-76-10192.

Since our Regulatory Director, Maleia Press, joined the Adult Family Home Council in November, she has been actively researching this topic, looking for the disconnect and exploring solutions. After extensive research, Maleia was able to work with RCS Director, Amy Abbott, who shared the following:

“After reviewing all the information, meeting with the Attorney General (AG), and discussing with representatives at the Insurance Commission, we have a much better understanding of Commercial General Liability (CGL) exclusions and sub-limits.  As we understand it, the sublimit adds back coverage that would typically be excluded from the CGL.”

Amy Abbott went on to write, “There is no requirement in the WAC or RCW that additional coverage, beyond the required coverage, be added to a policy, and there is no regulation requiring any coverage that is added have the same limit as the standard requirements found in WAC. I also verified with our contracts team that DSHS does not require additional coverage to address the policy exclusions found in CGL.”

The department has issued notification to their staff and are working to retrain licensors and complaint investigators on this corrected interpretation. Meanwhile, if you receive any citations or consultations on this topic, or are told this is an issue that you as the provider need to address with your insurance carrier, reach out to Maleia Press at maleia@adultfamilyhomecouncil.org and she will get this resolved for you.

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