The bill creates a new chapter in Title 79 RCW and amends RCW 79.02.010, 79.64.110, 79.105.150, and reenacts and amends RCW 79.22.050. It authorizes the Department of Natural Resources to enter into payment-for-ecosystem-service contracts on public lands and aquatic lands, to offer ecosystem service and carbon credits for sale in compliance or voluntary marketplaces, and to contract with project developers or brokers by public auction or direct negotiation. Contract terms may run up to 125 years; a notice of intent to negotiate must be posted within 90 days before negotiations; the board of natural resources must approve contract terms and set a minimum payment valid for at least 180 days (the department may set the final payment based on current market prices where a board minimum exists). The bill includes definitions for terms such as ecosystem service credit, carbon credit, project developer, and broker, and contains legislative findings about using such markets to diversify revenue. The act also changes how receipts from state forestlands and aquatic lands are handled. It adds “forest biomass” and “ecosystem services” to enumerated resources, revises distribution formulas for receipts from state forestlands (specifying percentages to the forest development account, counties, and others and allowing the board to raise an administration percentage from 25% to 27% during specified biennia), requires department certification and regular state treasurer distributions to counties, and allows certain school district fund transfers. It amends aquatic lands finance to require proceeds from sale/lease of aquatic lands, valuable materials, and ecosystem services to be deposited in the aquatic lands enhancement account and sets grant and program requirements (including incorporation of environmental benefits, specified prioritization factors, outcome-focused performance measures, consultation requirements, and a restriction on funding Puget Sound restoration projects that conflict with the Puget Sound partnership action agenda). Legally, the bill creates a new statutory framework authorizing new commercial and contractual activities (procedural and substantive law changes), and it modifies existing revenue distribution and account-use rules (financial and procedural changes). Important details are missing from the extracted text: the new Title 79 chapter number is not provided, portions of some amended RCW texts are not included, the definition of “valuable materials” is cut off, and the specific rules the board must adopt and other verification or safeguard procedures are not shown.

If enacted, the Department of Natural Resources would be able to sell or lease ecosystem service credits from public forest and aquatic lands and enter contracts up to 125 years to generate new revenue, directly participate in carbon and other ecosystem markets, and hire or contract with developers and brokers to establish and sell credits. That creates new income opportunities for the state and trust beneficiaries and gives project developers and brokers more business, while the department takes on new responsibilities for marketing, negotiation, and meeting board-approved contract terms (including publishing a 90-day notice before negotiations and using board-set minimum payments that must be in place for at least 180 days). Money from these sales would flow into existing accounts (forest development account, county and school distributions, and the aquatic lands enhancement account) under specific split and timing rules that generally speed certification and payment to counties and allow certain uses and grant prioritization for aquatic lands projects; small counties must prioritize using balances to reduce indebtedness. The practical trade-offs are more revenue and new program funding but also new administrative costs and long-term restrictions on land use from lengthy contracts, and uncertainty remains because key procedural rules, verification safeguards, and some amended statutory texts and the new chapter number are not included in the provided facts.