Creates a new refundable-seeming tax credit structure by adding substantially identical new sections to chapter 82.04 RCW (B&O tax) and chapter 82.16 RCW (public utility tax) that allow a credit equal to 50 percent of what an employer pays to a registered child care provider or licensed child care facility for care of an employee’s dependent(s). The credit is capped at $50,000 per person per calendar year, the total statewide credits are capped at $5,000,000 per year and awarded on a first-in-time basis, and the same child care payment cannot be claimed under both chapters. Employers may carry unused credit forward for one calendar year, refunds are prohibited, and taxpayers must retain records for verification and file required returns and forms electronically. No separate application is required. The bill phases eligibility and duration: the credit is effective January 1, 2027; in calendar years 2027 and 2028 only employers with fewer than 100 full-time equivalent employees or employers participating in a defined child care consortium are eligible; beginning January 1, 2029 eligibility opens to any qualifying person. No credit may be claimed after January 1, 2032, and the new sections expire January 1, 2033. For consortiums, a member must claim the credit in proportion to its financial contribution to the consortium’s total child care assistance costs. The bill also includes a tax preference performance statement and cites RCW 82.32.050 and RCW 82.32.808 in that statement. Affected parties identified in the text include employers (notably small and mid-sized employers), registered child care providers and licensed facilities receiving payments, child care consortiums and their members, local chambers of commerce/downtown associations/economic development councils as possible consortium leads, the department responsible for verification and notice, and the joint legislative audit and review committee for performance review. The text references “the department” but does not identify which state department is meant, and a citation in the performance statement to “sections 1 and 2, chapter . . ., Laws of 2026” is incomplete. Definitions for terms such as “person” and “registered child care provider” are not provided in the extracted facts.

If enacted, this law would let employers recover half of what they pay a registered child care provider for employees’ dependents through a tax credit, up to $50,000 per employer per year and subject to a $5 million statewide annual cap that is awarded first-come, first-served. Small employers (under 100 full‑time equivalents) and employers in approved child care consortiums get the credit in 2027–28, with any qualifying employer eligible beginning in 2029; employers must file and keep records electronically, consortium members claim the credit in proportion to their financial contribution, unused credit can be carried forward one year, and refunds are not allowed. Practically, this lowers the net cost of employer‑paid child care for participating employers and may increase demand for slots from registered providers, but it also creates administrative duties for employers and for the unnamed state department that must verify claims and post when the $5 million cap is reached. Important implementation details are unclear in the text provided—such as which department administers the credit and some statutory definitions—so how smoothly claims are processed and how quickly the statewide cap will be reached are uncertain.