This bill adds new statutory sections to chapters 59.18 and 59.20 RCW and amends and reenacts RCW 59.18.060, and it also amends RCW 59.18.390. The new sections prohibit landlords from banning or restricting tenants from installing portable cooling devices (defined to include air conditioners and evaporative coolers, including window‑mounted and floor‑standing units, but excluding devices that require alteration of the dwelling or manufactured/mobile home), subject to specified exceptions. The amendments to RCW 59.18.060 update landlord habitability duties to expressly include heating and cooling, require specific written fire safety and smoke detector notices to tenants, and add rules about utility disconnections and reconnections during National Weather Service heat‑related alerts. RCW 59.18.390 is amended to change sheriff duties and eviction procedures related to partial payments and protection during defined periods of extreme heat. The bill specifies exceptions that allow a landlord to prohibit or restrict portable cooling devices, including conflicts with building codes or laws, violation of manufacturer safety guidelines, unreasonable damage or rendering the unit uninhabitable, insufficient electrical capacity (with prioritization for tenants who need a device to accommodate a disability), specific window‑installation safety and egress concerns, and when a permanently installed, operational heat pump already provides cooling. Landlords may not enforce a restriction unless it is allowed by the statute and delivered in writing, must include written information about tenant rights and responsibilities regarding portable cooling devices in the rental agreement, and are immune from liability for damages, injury, or death caused by a tenant‑installed portable cooling device. For utilities, landlords may not involuntarily terminate electric or water service on days covered by NWS heat alerts, must inform tenants of the right to request reconnection during such alerts, must attempt prompt reconnection upon request, and may require a repayment plan that generally limits required monthly payments to six percent of the tenant’s monthly income and aims to pay past‑due amounts by the following May 15th. The bill also requires landlords to disclose whether the building has emergency notification, relocation, and evacuation plans (and to provide copies or a checklist with evacuation diagrams for new tenants), to provide Department of Health mold‑information to tenants, and to designate and promptly update the name and address of the landlord or local agent. RCW 59.18.390 changes include a sheriff service requirement to wait three days before execution of a writ, a prohibition on executing writs or physically evicting during a defined “period of extreme heat,” rules that acceptance of a partial payment does not invalidate a writ absent a written agreement provided to the sheriff, conspicuous notice requirements on writs about partial payments and heat alerts, and sheriff immunity except for gross negligence. The extracted text is incomplete: the fire safety disclosure item in RCW 59.18.060 is cut off, the beginning of several landlord disclosure provisions is missing, and any remaining sections or amendments elsewhere in the bill beyond these excerpts are not provided.

If enacted, tenants will have broader practical ability to install and use portable air conditioners and evaporative coolers in rental units and manufactured/mobile homes except where installation would violate codes, safety guidelines, cause significant damage, exceed the property’s electrical capacity, interfere with egress or warranties, or where a working heat-pump already provides cooling. Landlords must update leases and notices to spell out these rights and any allowed restrictions, prioritize tenants who need a device for a disability when electrical capacity is limited, and are shielded from liability for tenant-installed devices — so landlords will face administrative work to document limits but reduced legal exposure for tenant installations. Landlords must also change how they handle utility shutoffs and evictions during heat events: they cannot involuntarily cut electric or water service on days covered by National Weather Service heat alerts, must accept tenant requests to reconnect during such alerts and make reasonable attempts to do so, and may only require repayment plans that cap monthly payments at six percent of a tenant’s income and aim to clear arrears by the following May 15 (with some flexibility). Sheriffs are barred from executing evictions during defined "periods of extreme heat," and writs must include bold notice about partial payments and heat alerts. Practically, owners and managers (including mobile home park operators) will likely need new procedures, tenant communications, and possibly short-term costs for reconnections and delayed evictions, while tenants gain stronger protections against heat-related utility loss and clearer emergency and mold information. Some details about fire safety disclosures and an amendment to RCW 59.18.390 are missing from the provided text, so full operational impacts in those areas are uncertain.