This bill amends existing law (RCW 82.45.060) to change how real estate excise tax is applied and administered. It codifies a tiered tax rate schedule beginning January 1, 2020 (1.1% on the first $500,000; 1.28% on the next $500,000; 2.75% on the next $1,500,000; 3% on amounts over $3,000,000), preserves a 1.28% rate for sales of property classified as timberland or agricultural land, and specifies deposit directions for revenue receipts with a transition to deposit amounts as provided in RCW 82.45.230 beginning January 1, 2020. It also requires the department to adjust specified selling-price thresholds every four years beginning July 1, 2022, using the consumer price index for shelter (or 5%), to publish updated thresholds and guidance for sellers, and to report threshold adjustments to the legislature’s fiscal committees; adjusted thresholds are rounded to the nearest $1,000 and become final when in effect. The bill makes definitional and procedural changes: it defines “agricultural land,” “consumer price index for shelter,” “growth of the consumer price index for shelter,” and “timberland” (including when land sold or transferred to a governmental entity qualifies if managed in the same manner as certain designated forestland and if the governmental entity complies with specified RCW provisions). It assigns sole responsibility for verifying seller classification on real estate excise tax affidavits to the department as part of its audit duties under RCW 82.45.150 and explicitly relieves county treasurers of that verification duty. No changes to criminal penalties are set out in the provided text. The bill passed the House on February 12, 2026 (Yeas 68, Nays 26) and the Senate on March 6, 2026 (Yeas 30, Nays 19). The document does not identify which state department is meant by “the department,” does not show the exact prior text of RCW 82.45.060 for comparison, and does not include the contents of the external RCW provisions it cites (RCW 84.33.140(13)(j) and 84.34.108(6)(m)), so how those compliance requirements operate in context cannot be determined from these facts. There is also an unexplained mix of 2025 and 2026 session headers in the source material.

If enacted, people selling property that qualifies as timberland or agricultural land will generally face a lower, single real estate excise tax compared with the tiered schedule that applies to other sales, so many sellers and governmental buyers that manage land as designated forestland could pay less tax on transfers. Governmental entities that want that tax treatment will need to manage and document the land according to the cited forestland rules, and sellers will have clearer guidance to follow because the state agency named in the statute must publish instructions and periodically adjust the dollar thresholds that trigger the tiered rates based on the CPI for shelter. Practically, county treasurers will have less responsibility and lower audit risk because the statute shifts verification of seller classification to the state department, which also picks up the recurring work of updating thresholds every four years and reporting to legislative fiscal committees; that will likely increase the department’s administrative workload and require ongoing guidance and reporting resources. It is unclear from these facts which specific state department is responsible and how the post-2020 deposit allocations are distributed beyond the reference to a separate RCW, so some implementation details and budget impacts are not fully specified here.