This bill amends multiple existing statutes to change how voter approval for certain school district and municipal debt measures is determined and to modify related procedural requirements. It changes several RCWs (28A.535.020; 28A.535.050; 84.52.056; 39.36.020; 28A.530.020; and 28A.315.285) rather than creating an entirely new chapter, replacing a "three-fifths" voter-approval threshold with a "majority" threshold for specified school district indebtedness validations and ratifications and adjusting related statutory cross-references. Key statutory changes described in the extracted text include: RCW 28A.535.020 and RCW 28A.535.050—validation and ratification of school district indebtedness and authority for the school board to borrow and issue bonds are approved by a majority of voters and, if validated, permit borrowing and issuing negotiable bonds under chapter 39.46 RCW; RCW 39.36.020—rules limiting taxing district indebtedness by percentage of taxable value remain, but the assent requirement for school districts when required is changed from three-fifths to a majority; RCW 84.52.056—municipal general obligation bond provisions generally retain a three-fifths requirement and a 40% turnout requirement for municipal propositions, limit bond elections to twice per calendar year, and explicitly state a school district proposition exception allowing approval by a majority; RCW 28A.530.020—requires board resolutions calling debt financing elections to specify purposes (including any anticipated state assistance) and requires a public hearing before altering expenditures or descriptions of anticipated state assistance; and RCW 28A.315.285—sets vote-counting rules for special elections on new school district formation and for adjustment of bonded indebtedness, and assigns duties to the educational service district superintendent after approval, although the text provided ends mid-sentence and is incomplete. The act also includes procedural and contingent provisions: a regional committee is responsible for adjusting assets and liabilities for taxing purposes when boundaries are redrawn under RCW 84.09.030; superintendents of transferring districts must deliver records to the new district superintendent upon certification; a severability clause is included; and the act takes effect only if a specified proposed amendment to the state Constitution (H-0190/25, described as providing for a simple majority to authorize school district bonds) is validly submitted to and approved by voters at the next general election. The extracted materials do not include the full text of that constitutional amendment, the contingent effective date language itself, the remainder of the mid-sentence provision in RCW 28A.315.285(4), or the texts of several referenced statutes.

If voters approve the companion constitutional amendment, school districts will find it materially easier to win approval for bonds and other voter-authorized borrowing because a simple majority of ballots cast will be enough rather than a higher supermajority. That change will likely make it easier for districts to fund building projects and capital outlays through bonds and related tax levies, increasing their options to raise money but also raising the chance of more local debt and tax levies being approved; other local governments generally still face higher voting thresholds and turnout requirements, so their borrowing rules are largely unchanged. Boards must still clearly state project purposes and hold public hearings before changing how bond proceeds or anticipated state assistance are used, so transparency and some administrative steps remain. Administrative consequences include clearer rules for forming new school districts and adjusting bonded debt—formation requires a majority in each component district while adjustments are approved by a majority of votes across the whole new or existing district—and duties for regional committees and superintendents to sort assets, liabilities, and records when boundaries change. Superintendents must deliver records to a newly formed district on certification. The act would only take effect if the specified constitutional amendment is validly submitted and approved at the next general election, and some implementation details and the exact effective date are not provided in the extracted text.