This bill creates a new voluntary vessel-registration donation program and a dedicated state account. When applying for an initial or renewal vessel registration, the department (through county auditors, agents, or subagents) must offer owners the chance to donate $1 or more in whole dollars for salmon preservation by managing pinniped populations in the lower Columbia River area; donations are voluntary. All donations are deposited into a newly created sea lion predation control account in the state treasury, funds may be spent only after appropriation and only for activities related to preserving salmon levels through management and control of the pinniped population in the lower Columbia River area, and the account may not supplant existing state funds used for pinniped management. The act reenacts and amends RCW 43.84.092 to (re)establish a treasury income account that receives earnings from investment of surplus treasury balances, to direct monthly distributions of those earnings, and to allocate proportionate shares of earnings to a long list of specified state accounts and funds (including the new sea lion predation control account) based on average daily balances. The Office of Financial Management is directed to determine amounts due under the federal Cash Management Improvement Act (CMIA) and may direct transfers to implement CMIA; refunds or allocations required by CMIA and payments to financial institutions for purchased banking services must occur before the monthly earnings distributions and do not require appropriation. The state treasurer administers the treasury income account and distributes earnings monthly. The bill changes procedures (requiring the donation opportunity at vessel registration), creates a new fund, and makes fiscal and procedural changes to treasury earnings distribution law; it reenacts and amends an existing statute (RCW 43.84.092). The act sets multiple effective and expiration dates (the act takes effect July 1, 2026; several sections have specified future effective or expiration dates, some contingent on the expiration of RCW 74.76.040), but the text provided is incomplete on some timing details. It is unclear from the extracted text which specific “department” is referenced in the vessel-registration provisions and the full amended text of RCW 43.84.092 and the complete list of affected accounts are not fully included here.

If enacted, the law would create a new, voluntary donation option at vessel registration so boat owners can give $1 or more to a dedicated state account that funds management of sea lion predation in the lower Columbia River to help preserve salmon. Practically, vessel owners gain a new, optional way to support that work, county auditors and registration agents must offer the option when people register or renew vessels, and the state will collect any donations into a new “sea lion predation control” treasury account rather than into existing pinniped-management budgets. Money in the new account can only be spent after the Legislature appropriates it and may not replace current funding for pinniped control; the state treasurer will include the account in monthly investment-earnings distributions and the Office of Financial Management will handle required federal cash-management payments and bank-service charges before distributions. The bill increases small administrative duties for registration offices and imposes new account-management responsibilities on the treasurer and OFM, but likely yields modest, uncertain revenue because donations are voluntary; the specific implementing department and some timing and expiration triggers depend on other statutory provisions that are not included in the provided text.