This bill (H-0462.1, House Bill 1265) amends existing criminal statutes to rename and redefine the offense formerly called "patronizing a prostitute" as "commercial sexual exploitation" in RCW 9A.88.110. The conduct that constitutes the offense is described in three alternatives: paying or providing anything of value pursuant to an understanding that another will engage in sexual conduct with the payer (including payment for a third person), agreeing to pay or providing payment under such an understanding, or soliciting another to engage in sexual conduct for a fee or anything of value. The offense is classified as a class C felony. The statute treats an offense as committed where any part of the acts occur and treats sending a communication to engage or solicit as occurring both where sent and where received, while directing the statute be construed to avoid double prosecution for substantially the same crime. The bill references the statutory definition of "sexual conduct" in RCW 9A.88.030, but that definition is not included in the provided text. The bill also amends RCW 9A.88.120 to create a structured assessment fee regime for adult offenders who are convicted, given deferred sentences or deferred prosecutions, or placed in statutory or nonstatutory diversion agreements for specified sex-related offenses. Fee tiers by prior convictions or diversions are set as follows: RCW 9A.88.010/9A.88.030 offenses—$50; RCW 9A.88.090—$1,500 (no prior), $2,500 (one prior), $5,000 (two or more priors); RCW 9A.88.110 (commercial sexual exploitation)—$3,000 (no prior), $5,000 (one prior), $10,000 (two or more priors); RCW 9A.88.070/9A.88.080—$3,000 (no prior), $6,000 (one prior), $10,000 (two or more priors). Courts may not reduce, waive, or suspend these fees except on the record for inability to pay, and then only up to a two-thirds reduction; superior courts may set required monthly payments, district and municipal courts may set payment plans and charge reasonable administrative fees. Fees are collected by the court clerk and remitted to the county treasurer where the offense occurred (or to a city/town treasurer when that jurisdiction provides its own law enforcement). At least 50 percent of fee revenue must be spent on prevention and specified victim services and rehabilitative programs, and 2 percent must be remitted quarterly to the Department of Commerce along with a report on assessments, receipts, and expenditures. The bill includes a new findings section (Sec. 1), but the provided text leaves some gaps. The exact text of the statutory definition of "sexual conduct" from RCW 9A.88.030 is not included, the bill does not supply sentencing ranges or other statutory penalty details beyond class C felony classification, and no effective dates for the amendments or the fee provisions are provided in the extracted facts. It is also unclear whether other new statutory sections beyond the identified findings section are created elsewhere in the bill.

If enacted, people convicted of what the bill calls "commercial sexual exploitation" would face it as a felony and would likely owe sizable mandatory assessment fees that grow steeper with prior offenses (for example, up to $10,000 for multiple prior convictions under the renamed offense). Courts would have less discretion to reduce or waive those fees except when an offender is found unable to pay, and courts and lower courts would be responsible for setting payment plans or monthly payments and for collecting fees through clerks, which increases administrative duties and could raise costs for courts to manage collections. Counties and cities where offenses occur would receive the revenues (with a city receiving fees if it provides its own law enforcement), but at least half of the money must go to prevention and victim services and 2% must be sent quarterly to the Department of Commerce with a spending report, so local budgets could see new restricted funding streams and new reporting obligations. The bill creates clearer funding for programs that serve victims and prevention work and shifts collection and remittance duties to local clerks and treasurers, but important details are missing from the text provided—most notably the definition of "sexual conduct," exact sentencing consequences beyond felony classification, and when the changes would take effect—so some implementation and scope questions would remain.