This bill amends several existing statutes related to local sales and use taxes, the real estate excise tax (REET), and a new recording surcharge. It modifies RCW 82.14.530 and 82.14.540 to authorize counties and cities to impose a local sales and use tax (rate capped at 0.1 percent per RCW 82.14.530 text included) to fund affordable housing, behavioral health facilities and services, operations and maintenance, and related supports. The amendments set mandatory spending priorities (at least 60 percent for construction/acquisition/rehabilitation and operations of affordable housing and related facilities, with income eligibility generally at or below 60 percent of county median income and other specified thresholds), allow bonds and pledging of up to 50 percent of receipts, limit administrative costs and supplanting of local funds, require consultation with cities and certain interlocal agreements, impose reporting and Department of Commerce oversight, and make the tax expire 20 years after first imposition. The Department of Revenue must collect the tax on behalf of jurisdictions at no cost, calculate maximum annual distributions based on fiscal year 2019 taxable retail sales, and stop distributions that exceed those maxima, remitting any excess to the state general fund. The act reenacts and amends RCW 36.22.250 to add a $183 recording surcharge per instrument recorded (with specified exemptions) and prescribes the percentage distribution of those proceeds among county auditors, counties, and three Department of Commerce accounts (home security fund, affordable housing for all account, and landlord mitigation program), along with rules for county and city use, first-refusal grant rights, and allowable administrative uses. It also amends RCW 82.45.010 to broadly define "sale" for REET purposes (including transfers of controlling interests within any 36-month period), establishes numerous exclusions and time-limited or conditional exemptions (including qualified low-income housing developments and transfers to qualifying grantees), requires data collection by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission with a JLARC review of the tax preference in 2033, and creates specific exemptions and recapture rules for transfers to qualified entities for residential supported living for persons with developmental disabilities (including a 50-year continued-use requirement and immediate tax due if continued-use conditions fail, with that tax not subject to penalties or interest). The bill makes several procedural and timing changes: it limits local administrative costs to 10 percent of distributed tax revenue, sets income eligibility thresholds (including 60 percent of county median and exceptions up to 80 percent or 30 percent in specified programs), requires counties with populations over 1,500,000 to plan to spend at least 30 percent of certain proceeds inside larger cities when imposing particular tax options, and establishes deadlines and timelines for grantees to qualify properties for tax exemptions (24 months for existing housing, three years for substantial rehabilitation, five years for new development) with recapture plus interest if requirements are not met. Section 4 of the act expires January 1, 2030, and Section 5 takes effect January 1, 2030. Several excerpts in the provided material are incomplete or cut off: parts of RCW 82.14.540 are truncated, the exact subsection that sets the tax rate used for maximum-distribution calculations is not visible in the extracts, the identity of the recurring referenced "department" that must adopt rules and receive affidavits is not specified in the chunks, and other amendments referenced in the bill header (and some subsection text) are missing, so a full interpretation of all operative provisions and cross-references is not possible from the supplied facts alone.

If enacted, counties and many cities would gain a new locally collected sales tax option (up to 0.1%) dedicated mainly to creating and preserving affordable housing and behavioral health facilities and services, with strict rules on how most of the money must be used, who is eligible, and how much can be spent on administration. Local governments could also pledge some of that revenue to back bonds and must report annually to the Department of Commerce; the state Department of Revenue would handle collection at no cost to the local governments and would limit annual distributions based on 2019 sales volumes, which could stop payments for the rest of a fiscal year if exceeded. The act also creates a $183 recording surcharge whose proceeds are earmarked for county administration and homelessness, housing, and landlord mitigation programs in specified percentages, so counties, cities, nonprofits, public housing authorities, and the Department of Commerce should expect new revenue streams but also tighter spending rules, reporting duties, potential limits on supplanting existing funds, and timelines and priorities for who gets housing help. The bill also changes when real estate transfers trigger excise tax or qualify for exemptions: a broader definition of “sale” captures transfers of controlling interests within 36 months and treats option execution dates specially, while sales to qualified nonprofits, housing grantees, and entities serving people with developmental disabilities can be exempt if they meet firm timelines, covenants (including a 10‑year low‑income use requirement in some cases), and long-term use conditions (up to 50 years for certain developmental disability housing). Practically, that means developers, nonprofit buyers, housing authorities, counties, and DSHS face new compliance steps, affidavits, and deadlines and risk having taxes and interest recouped or immediately due if use conditions aren’t met or if DSHS finds safety or use failures; some implementation details and portions of the amendments appear incomplete in the provided text, leaving uncertainty about certain administrative definitions and the full scope of a few provisions.