This bill creates a new law by adding a chapter to Title 36 RCW that authorizes any county's legislative authority to impose an excise tax on utilities for the privilege of doing business measured as gross income from utility services to consumers in the county's unincorporated areas. The county tax rate may not exceed 3 percent. Utilities subject to the tax must add the tax to customer rates or charges and separately state the tax amount on billings. A county may first impose the tax only on the first day of a calendar quarter and not sooner than 75 days after adopting the ordinance or resolution imposing the tax. The bill sets rules for exemptions, credits, and revenue use: counties may provide exemptions for certain sales by utilities to business customers but may not grant a general residential exemption unless business customers are also exempt; counties must allow a credit against the county tax for any similar utility tax imposed by a city or town on the same taxable event, up to the amount otherwise due; and counties imposing the tax must use 0.2 percent of tax revenue exclusively to assist low-income residents with utility costs. Taxes collected by a utility in compliance with this section are excluded from the state public utility tax under chapter 82.16 RCW. Definitions for types of utilities and "gross income" are provided by reference to existing RCW sections. This is a new local excise tax authority and associated procedural and billing requirements rather than a change in criminal penalties. Important implementation details are not included in the extracted text: the exact statutory definitions referenced must be looked up in the cited RCWs, the bill does not specify county adoption procedures (voting, notice, hearings, enforcement, or collection mechanisms), it does not describe how the 0.2 percent low-income assistance funds will be administered or distributed, and the new chapter number in Title 36 RCW is not specified in the provided facts.

If enacted, counties would gain a new way to raise money by adding a surcharge tied to utility business activity in their unincorporated areas, and utilities would almost certainly pass that cost to customers as a separate line item on bills. Utilities and local governments will need to coordinate so customers don’t pay twice when a city already charges a similar tax, and counties must set aside a very small portion (0.2 percent) of whatever they collect to help low-income residents with utility costs. The people most affected are county governments (new revenue and a new policy tool), utility companies (new billing and collection duties and potential customer pushback), and utility customers (likely higher, separately stated bills); cities and towns keep the option to offset their own taxes. Key implementation details are unclear from the text provided, including exact statutory definitions referenced, how counties must adopt the tax, and who will run and distribute the low-income assistance funds.