This bill amends RCW 16.72.010 and 16.72.020 and adds new sections to chapter 16.72 RCW. It prohibits producing or manufacturing fur products made from farmed fur unless the fur comes from a farm that is a member of an organization that recognizes a professional certification program with animal welfare and environmental standards and is fully compliant with inspection and certification requirements. It also bars a person from engaging in fur farming unless they are a member of such an organization and in full compliance. Violations of the production/manufacture prohibition (other than a recordkeeping failure) are classified as misdemeanors, with each fur product that violates the prohibition treated as a separate offense. The bill defines key terms (department/director of agriculture, fur, fur farming, fur product, exclusions for certain skins and taxidermy, person, produce or manufacture, ultimate consumer, and used fur product). It creates a fur farm transition grant program in the Department of Agriculture and a fur farm transition account in the state treasury to receive funds for the program; grant funds may be used only for technical assistance, permitting, new facility construction, equipment, and labor costs related to transitioning out of fur farming. The transition program and account expire June 30, 2028. Sellers or traders of used fur products or exempt fur products must retain a record of each sale or trade for at least one year; that recordkeeping violation is not subject to criminal or civil penalty. This is both a substantive legal change (new criminal prohibition/misdemeanor and new membership/compliance requirement for fur farming) and an administrative change (creation of a grant program, account, and rulemaking authority for the Department of Agriculture). Sections 1, 2, and 5 take effect January 1, 2026. The text provided does not identify which specific organizations or certification programs qualify, does not state enforcement, inspection, or investigative procedures, and does not specify funding amounts or appropriations for the grant program.

If enacted, people who raise mink, marten, fox, or chinchilla will likely have to join and pass inspection from a recognized certification program with animal welfare and environmental standards to keep selling fur that can be made into new fur products; fur product manufacturers will generally be barred from using farmed fur unless it comes from those certified farms, and each noncompliant item could expose the producer to a misdemeanor charge. Sellers or traders of used fur or otherwise exempt fur must keep a one‑year record of each sale or trade (but failing that recordkeeping is not criminal or civilly punishable), and members of federally recognized tribes and religious uses remain exempt. The bill creates a time-limited grant program and a dedicated account to help fur farmers transition out of fur production by paying for technical help, permits, new facilities, equipment, and labor, with the Department of Agriculture controlling spending; however, no specific funding amounts or named certification organizations are provided, and enforcement and inspection procedures are not spelled out, so how strictly the new rules will be applied and how much money will actually be available are uncertain. Sections establishing key prohibitions take effect January 1, 2026, and the transition program and account expire June 30, 2028.