This bill amends RCW 49.46.020 to confirm a minimum wage schedule through 2021 and to require annual minimum wage adjustments beginning January 1, 2021 based on the CPI-W as calculated by the Department of Labor and Industries. It also clarifies that employers must pay employees all tips, gratuities, and applicable service charges (as defined in RCW 49.46.160) in addition to the hourly minimum wage, and requires employers who accept credit‑card tips to pay employees the full tip amount shown on the credit‑card receipt without deducting the employer’s credit‑card processing fees. The bill creates a new chapter in Title 19 RCW (sections 2–4) establishing definitions and rules for electronic payment transactions, gratuities, and processing fees. It prohibits issuers, payment card networks, acquirer banks, or processors from charging or receiving processing fees on the gratuity portion of an electronic payment transaction if the merchant transmits gratuity amount data as part of authorization or settlement. If gratuity data were not transmitted at authorization/settlement, a merchant may submit transaction documentation within 180 days and the issuer must credit the merchant the processing fees charged on the gratuity within 30 days. The bill bars altering fee computations to evade the exclusion, requires payment card networks to provide a mechanism within two years for merchants to transmit gratuity data, and prohibits non‑merchant entities from using or distributing payment transaction data except to facilitate the transaction or as required by law; such misuse is treated as a Consumer Protection Act violation. The bill creates a civil penalty of $1,000 per electronic payment transaction against a payment card network or other designated entity that received gratuity data and violates the prohibition in section 3, and requires the issuer to refund the processing fee calculated on the gratuity amount; penalties are payable to the Director of the Department of Labor and Industries for deposit in the supplemental pension fund under RCW 51.44.033 and are in addition to remedies under chapter 49.46 RCW and Title 82 RCW. The act takes effect July 1, 2026, but is null and void if specific funding for its purposes is not provided in the omnibus appropriations act by June 30, 2025. Missing or unclear details in the provided text include the new chapter number in Title 19, specific enforcement procedures or agencies beyond the Director receiving penalties, and technical specifications for how gratuity data must be transmitted.

If enacted, workers would be more clearly protected: employers must pay tips and most service charges on top of minimum wage, and cannot deduct credit card processing fees from tips, so tipped employees are likely to see higher take-home pay and fewer employer-side deductions. Merchants must either send the gratuity amount during the card authorization/settlement or submit documentation within 180 days to recover any processing fees charged on the tip portion; payment card networks, issuers, acquirers, and processors would lose the right to collect fees on the gratuity amount when that data is provided, must build a transmission mechanism within two years, and face $1,000-per-transaction penalties plus fee refunds if they violate those rules. The parties most affected are employers and employees (employers bear clearer payout obligations and cannot shift card fees onto tips), merchants (new operational steps to transmit or document gratuities to avoid fees), and payment networks/issuers/processors (reduced fee revenue, system change requirements, and exposure to large civil penalties), while the Department of Labor and Industries would receive penalties into the supplemental pension fund and continue annual wage adjustments. Important implementation details are missing here—technical formats for transmitting gratuity data, which state agency enforces the new payment rules beyond receiving penalties, and the act’s validity depends on specific funding being included in the 2025 omnibus appropriations act, otherwise the law would be null and void.