This bill creates new authority for cities and code cities by adding sections to chapter 35.21 RCW and chapter 35A.21 RCW to allow them to establish publicly owned grocery stores in underserved areas. It authorizes acquisition of land and buildings, construction or rehabilitation, leasing to private or nonprofit operators (including long-term leases), transfer of property to a community redevelopment authority, and the use of eminent domain to take private property for public use. It authorizes multiple ownership and operation models (city-operated, third-party operated, or cooperative with nonprofit governance), requires contracts with nonprofit or cooperative operators to specify hours of operation and product categories, and allows cities to take facilitating land use actions such as rezoning, increased residential density, parking or mixed-use requirement changes, and environmental review consistent with law. The bill also creates fiscal and procedural changes by allowing cities and code cities to apply to the Department of Commerce for capital grants for eligible uses (property acquisition, rehabilitation, equipment, operating costs, security, site infrastructure, and food locker systems) and by adding publicly owned grocery stores to the list of public improvements in RCW 39.114.010 so tax increment financing (TIF) areas may be designated to support acquisition, redevelopment, and access improvements. It requires annual reporting to the Department of Commerce with specified financial, access, job, and, where applicable, TIF fiscal and impact information, and it adds or clarifies definitions (including “food locker system,” “increment area,” “increment value,” “tax allocation revenues,” and “taxing district”) and states that certain excess property tax levies (including levies by local school districts and those exempt under RCW 84.52.043) are not “regular property taxes.” The bill therefore creates new municipal authority and programs and amends existing TIF definitions and procedures; it does not change criminal penalties. Important details are missing from the provided text, including the remainder of the “regular property taxes” definition, any grant program funding amounts or eligibility criteria beyond eligible uses, and additional sections of the bill not included here.

If enacted, cities and code cities would gain new, practical tools to open and run publicly owned grocery stores in neighborhoods with poor food access: they could buy or rehab buildings, build new stores, lease or transfer property to community redevelopment authorities, even use eminent domain, and choose whether the city runs a store itself, hires a private or nonprofit operator, or supports a cooperative. Those cities would have new funding options through capital grants from the Department of Commerce for acquisition, rehab, equipment, security, and food locker systems, and could use tax increment financing (TIF) revenue from designated increment areas to pay for site acquisition, redevelopment, infrastructure (including utilities, transportation access, and housing support), and store operations. Local governments, nonprofit operators, cooperative boards, community redevelopment authorities, county assessors and treasurers, and taxing districts are the most affected: cities gain new responsibilities and spending options, third-party operators and nonprofits face contract requirements about hours and product types and must meet reporting benchmarks, and county and taxing agencies must handle revaluation, apportionment, and potential mitigation funding. There are new ongoing obligations and some uncertain details: cities that open publicly owned grocery stores must submit annual reports to Commerce on finances, access, jobs, and—if TIF money is used—fiscal impacts on surrounding redevelopment, and third-party operators must supply sales and compliance data against specified benchmarks. The law also clarifies that “regular property taxes” used for TIF revenues exclude certain excess levies (including some school district levies), which affects how much incremental tax revenue is available, but the bill text provided omits full definitions and specific program details such as grant amounts, exact TIF designation procedures, and other implementation rules, so the final funding availability and administrative steps remain unclear.