The bill would add a new section to chapter 42.04 RCW that prohibits a governmental entity from granting or recognizing legal personhood to a listed set of non‑natural persons, including artificial intelligence; inanimate objects; bodies of water; land; real property; atmospheric gases; astronomical objects; weather; plants; nonhuman animals; and any other member of a taxonomic domain that is not a natural person. This is a new statutory prohibition on governmental recognition or creation of legal personhood for those categories (a procedural/legal recognition change), not an express creation of a new crime or specified penalty in the provided text. The proposed section includes definitions for some terms used: "body of water," "governmental entity" (defined to include the courts, the legislature, and agencies as defined in RCW 42.56.010), "land," "legal personhood," and "real property." Affected actors named in the text include courts, the legislature, and state agencies as defined by RCW 42.56.010. The bill was read for the first time on February 27, 2025, and referred to the Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary; sponsors listed are Representatives Abell, Corry, Chase, Ley, Marshall, Walsh, and Dufault. The extracted text does not include an effective date, enforcement mechanisms, penalties, or remedies for violations; several listed terms (for example, "artificial intelligence," "inanimate object," "atmospheric gas," "astronomical object," "weather," "plant," "nonhuman animal," and other taxonomic domains) are not defined in this section; and the exact new RCW section number within chapter 42.04 beyond "NEW SECTION. Sec. 1." is not specified. No legislative findings, intent statements, or related sections were included in the provided facts.

If enacted, the bill would remove the option for Washington courts, the Legislature, and state agencies to treat artificial intelligence, animals, plants, bodies of water, land, weather, atmospheric or astronomical objects, inanimate things, or other non‑human taxonomic categories as legal persons. Practically, this narrows the legal and policy tools available to advocates, governments, and litigants by closing off governmental recognition or conferral of personhood for those entities, so courts and agencies would need to decline or refuse requests that seek rights, duties, or legal standing based on personhood for the listed categories. The people and institutions most affected are judges, legislators, and state agencies, whose decision-making responsibilities would be constrained, and anyone who had been considering or pursuing legal personhood claims for these entities, who would lose that path. Important implementation details are missing: the bill text provided has no effective date, no enforcement or penalty provisions, and several key terms (for example, “artificial intelligence,” “weather,” and “nonhuman animal”) are not defined, so how broadly this ban would be applied and how disputes over the undefined terms would be resolved is unclear.