This bill amends RCW 70A.565.010 and RCW 70A.565.020 to add regulatory limits on lead in cookware. Beginning January 1, 2026, manufacturers may not make, sell, offer for sale, distribute for sale, or distribute for use in Washington any cookware or cookware components that contain lead or lead compounds at levels greater than five parts per million (ppm). Beginning the same date, retailers and wholesalers may not knowingly sell or knowingly offer for sale cookware or cookware components that contain lead or lead compounds above five ppm; retailers or wholesalers who unknowingly sell restricted products are not liable under this chapter. The bill defines key terms, including “cookware” (metal pots, pans, bakeware, rice cookers, pressure cookers, utensils, and other containers and devices intended for preparation or storage of food), “component” (separate parts and accessories such as lids, knobs, handles, griddles, rivets, fasteners, valves, and vent pipes, excluding inaccessible components), “inaccessible component” (parts enclosed or not capable of contacting food during intended use, with a specific exclusion for multilayer components where one layer contacts food), “manufacturer,” “utensils,” and “vulnerable populations” (as defined in RCW 70A.02.010). Sales or purchases of previously owned cookware in casual or isolated sales (per RCW 82.04.040) and sales by nonprofit organizations are exempt. The Department of Ecology, in consultation with the Department of Health, may by rule lower the five ppm limit after December 2034 if it determines a lower limit is feasible for manufacturers and necessary to protect human health. The changes are regulatory in nature: they modify existing law to create product-content restrictions, define covered items and parties, establish exemptions, and authorize future rulemaking. The extracted text does not include enforcement mechanisms, penalties, testing or certification methods, compliance procedures, or labeling requirements, so those details are uncertain or not provided here.

If enacted, beginning January 1, 2026 manufacturers (including importers and domestic distributors) will need to ensure all metal cookware and metal cookware components sold into Washington contain no more than five parts per million of lead, and retailers and wholesalers may not knowingly sell items that exceed that limit; this will likely push manufacturers to test, redesign, or change suppliers and create added compliance checks and potential product removals from Washington stores, while retailers will need to screen suppliers or face the risk of having to stop selling noncompliant items. Used cookware sold in casual or isolated sales and sales by nonprofits are exempt, and sellers who unknowingly sell restricted products are not liable under the chapter. The Department of Ecology, consulting with the Department of Health, could tighten the limit after December 2034 if lower levels are feasible and needed to protect health, which could trigger further costs and product changes down the line. Key implementation details that drive actual costs and enforcement—such as who pays for testing, required testing methods or certification, labeling, inspection or penalties, and how the “multiple testing layers” exception will be applied—are not provided in the extracted text and remain unclear.