House Bill 1678 would create a new charge and related program to fund nutrient-removal wastewater projects for Puget Sound. It levies a fee of $0.10 per gallon on discharges contaminated by untreated sewage from municipal combined sewer overflow systems or municipal wastewater treatment plants that discharge to Puget Sound or waters in hydrological continuity with Puget Sound, and directs all receipts into a newly created "enhanced wastewater treatment infrastructure for salmon recovery account" in the state treasury. The fee is explicitly separate from other fees, civil penalties, court orders, or consent decrees, and moneys in the new account may be spent only after appropriation and only as grants to municipalities for projects that remove excess nutrients. The bill creates new sections in chapter 90.48 RCW, requires "the department" to adopt rules to implement the fee, require annual aggregated reporting of untreated sewage discharges by operators, and adopt a uniform method to calculate gallons of untreated sewage from combined sewer overflows for purposes of penalties. It also reenacts and amends RCW 43.84.092 to address treasury earnings: it establishes a treasury income account for investment earnings, requires the state treasurer to distribute earnings monthly, and directs the Office of Financial Management to manage federal Cash Management Improvement Act (CMIA) transfers and related payments before earnings distributions; certain permanent funds and other accounts receive proportionate shares based on average daily balances. Type of legal change: this is the creation of a new fee (a new charge on dischargers), creation of a dedicated state account and grant program (financial/appropriation change), and procedural rulemaking and reporting requirements for implementation and accounting. It amends state treasury earnings allocation procedures and assigns duties to the state treasurer and OFM. Missing or unclear items in the extracted text: the specific agency referred to as "the department" is not identified; statutory definitions for terms like "discharger of untreated sewage," "untreated sewage," and "hydrological continuity with Puget Sound" are not included; the bill title refers to "prescribing penalties" and to effective and expiration dates but the actual penalty provisions and some date provisions are not contained in the provided extracts. Sections 4 and 5 timing notes appear: Section 4 expires July 1, 2028, and Section 5 takes effect July 1, 2028, but the content of those sections is not present in the extracts.

If enacted, municipal wastewater treatment plants and municipal combined sewer overflow systems that send untreated sewage into Puget Sound or waters connected to it would face a new charge of $0.10 per gallon for such discharges. Those operators would need to provide annual aggregated reports of untreated sewage volumes and follow a single, rule‑made method for calculating untreated sewage in combined sewer overflows; the fee is explicitly separate from other fines or penalties. The collected funds would go into a new state account set aside to provide grants to municipalities for projects that remove excess nutrients, though grant money would only be spent after the legislature appropriates it, so municipalities may gain a new source of project funding but will still rely on the appropriation process and may compete for that money. The state treasurer and the Office of Financial Management would manage the new account under existing treasury earnings and distribution rules, with monthly earnings allocations and proportionate sharing where specified; parts of the act have July 1, 2028 timing provisions. Key implementation details are missing from the provided text — the responsible agency is not named, core terms like “untreated sewage” and “discharger” are undefined, and collection, enforcement, penalty amounts, and exact effective dates are not shown — so the bill’s practical cost and timing for individual municipalities and operators remain uncertain.