House Bill 1973 adds new sections to chapter 43.24 RCW and chapter 18.140 RCW, creating a new procedural rule and a one-time refund obligation. The bill lets "the department" take up to three biennia to balance professional licensing accounts when a department error would otherwise require a fee increase greater than 33 percent in the current biennium. This is a procedural change to the timing of fee adjustments, not a change to criminal penalties. The bill also requires the department, within 60 days of the act’s effective date, to review records to identify anyone who, within the prior 12 months, was charged a fee that exceeded a 33 percent increase imposed to balance the real estate appraiser commission account because of a department error. The department must issue a one-time refund of the identified excess fee within 30 days after identification. The act is declared an emergency measure and takes effect immediately. The text does not specify which department is meant, how a department error is to be determined or documented, how the excess fee is to be calculated, or where refund funding will come from. The bill was referred to the Committee on Appropriations and was read for the first time on 02/13/25.

If enacted, the bill lets the unnamed state department responsible for professional licensing spread out fixing accounts for up to three biennia instead of forcing an immediate fee increase larger than 33 percent when that need arose because of a department error. It also requires that, for the real estate appraiser commission account, the department must identify within 60 days anyone who paid more than a 33 percent increase imposed to correct such an error in the last 12 months and issue a one‑time refund to those people within 30 days; the measure takes effect immediately. The practical impact is that license holders would be less likely to face a sudden large fee jump because the agency can phase in fixes over multiple biennia, while appraisers who already paid an excessive increase would likely get refunded quickly. The department will face immediate administrative work and cash costs to review records and process refunds, but the bill does not say which agency must act, how to prove an “error by the department,” how to calculate the excess fee, or where refund funds will come from, leaving important implementation details unresolved.