This bill creates a new statutory section that requires the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) to conduct a study of the financial oversight of the interstate bridge replacement project. The study must assess financial transparency and reporting compliance with state and federal rules and compare disclosures to megaproject benchmarks; review how funds have been allocated and spent since the project's 2019 restart, including major cost overruns, a sample of payments to non-Washington agencies, and conflict-of-interest processes; evaluate the reliability of traffic, ridership, and toll revenue forecasts and consideration of alternatives; and examine WSDOT’s financial oversight, auditing mechanisms, prior audit findings, and corrective actions. JLARC may contract for outside expertise and must submit a final report to the appropriate legislative committees by December 1, 2027. The new section expires December 31, 2027. The text provided is a new procedural requirement (a mandated study and report) rather than a change to criminal penalties or substantive regulatory duties. Important specifics are not included: there is no RCW citation or statutory placement, no formal definitions for terms such as "interstate bridge replacement project," "appropriate committees of the legislature," or "non-Washington agencies," no detail on study scope or methodology (for example, sample sizes), and no stated funding source or budget authority for JLARC’s contracting.

If enacted, the bill requires JLARC to perform a time-limited, wide-ranging financial and forecasting review of the interstate bridge replacement project and deliver a report to the legislature by December 1, 2027, with the study authority expiring December 31, 2027. Practically, JLARC will take on the responsibility and likely incur costs to hire outside experts in transportation finance or auditing, and WSDOT and any parties paid by the project (including referenced non‑Washington agencies) can expect document requests, scrutiny of expenditures since the project restart in 2019, and examination of forecasting and internal controls; this creates extra administrative work for those entities and potential reputational or oversight risk if problems are identified. The bill does not say where the money will come from to pay for contracted expertise, which legislative committees must receive the report, how terms like the project or sample sizes are defined, or how broadly payments to non‑Washington agencies will be examined, so the study’s scope, timing, and cost exposure are uncertain and will depend on decisions JLARC makes when implementing the directive.