This bill creates a new statutory requirement directing the Washington State Department of Revenue to study the state's system of alcohol taxation and fees and produce a final report. The study is limited to taxes and fees whose amounts are based on the sales price, sales volume, or alcohol content of alcohol products, and the statute refers specifically to product categories of spirits, beer, and wine (with an explicit mention of "off-premises spirits" in a sales context). The Liquor and Cannabis Board is required to cooperate with the Department of Revenue and provide relevant data. The bill is a new section (labeled "NEW SECTION. Sec. 1."), identified as H-0716.1, House Bill 1624, 69th Legislature, 2025 Regular Session, and was read for the first time January 27, 2025. It was referred to the Committee on Appropriations. The final report must be submitted to the relevant committees of the legislature by December 31, 2025, and the new section expires January 1, 2026. This is a procedural change creating a one-time study and reporting requirement; it does not, in the text provided, create new taxes, change existing tax rates, or alter penalties. The bill also references comparative analysis with other states and countries. Missing or unclear items in the provided text include the specific RCW citation for the new section, which legislative committees are the intended recipients, what exact items the report must include (the chunk notes specified items but does not list them), the precise time frame for "the past 25 years," definitions of "product category" and of each "applicable unit of measurement of alcohol content and volume," and the methods, data sources, and the meaning of "to the extent practicable" for the comparative analyses.

If enacted, the Department of Revenue will need to carry out a focused, one-time study and deliver a final report by December 31, 2025 that analyzes Washington’s alcohol taxes and fees tied to sales price, sales volume, or alcohol content for spirits, beer, and wine; the Liquor and Cannabis Board must cooperate and supply relevant data. Practically, that means both agencies will face added short-term workload and likely costs for staff time and data assembly to meet the deadline, and the work will be time-limited because the requirement expires January 1, 2026. The study could produce information that legislative committees use when weighing future tax or fee changes, but it does not itself change rates or revenue. Key uncertainties that affect agencies’ planning are missing from the text: which legislative committees will receive the report, whether the legislature provided funding (it was referred to Appropriations but no appropriation is specified), the exact start point for the “past 25 years” of data, and the methods or data sources the agencies must use.