The bill adds new sections to chapter 70A.65 RCW and amends RCW 70A.65.140 and 70A.65.120. It creates a new, time‑limited allocation of no‑cost greenhouse gas allowances for certain waste‑to‑energy facilities constructed before 1992 that meet federal and state air quality requirements for the emissions years 2027–2030. Baseline emissions are defined as the facility’s average annual emissions during 2021–2025, and no‑cost allowances are set at 100% of baseline for 2027–2028, 93% for 2029, and 86% for 2030. Forty percent of those allowances must be consigned to auction, with auction proceeds available to facility owners/operators for greenhouse gas reduction investments only after submission of a written proposal and department approval (department review due within 90 days; owner/operator must address comments and obtain final approval and take reasonable steps toward implementation). The bill also allows banking of unused allowances, requires owners/operators to acquire additional compliance instruments if actual emissions exceed allowances for 2027–2030, limits the use of offset credits so allowances plus offsets do not exceed 100% of the compliance obligation, and sets rules for withholding or withdrawing allowances if a facility is curtailed or closed. The act amends the emissions containment reserve provisions to require the department to establish the reserve and a trigger price by rule and to set procedures for withholding and transferring allowances into the reserve and for reserve distributions. It also amends allocation rules for electric utilities, stating legislative intent that consumer‑owned and investor‑owned utilities be eligible for allowance allocations to mitigate cost burdens, directing that revenues from rules be used for applicable utilities (with first priority to mitigate low‑income rate impacts), and requiring the department, in consultation with the Department of Commerce and the Utilities and Transportation Commission, to adopt allocation rules and consignment percentages by October 1, 2026 and further allocation schedules for later compliance periods through 2045. The bill limits free allowances to utilities to no later than 2045, allows certain allocations to utilities serving emissions‑intensive, trade‑exposed customers, permits transfers between power marketing administrations and utilities, and specifies that utilities may not receive allowances under this section for electricity produced by waste‑to‑energy facilities that have separate compliance obligations. The bill creates procedural requirements for owners/operators of pre‑1992 waste‑to‑energy facilities to submit a two‑part plan by December 1, 2030: a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan consistent with the state’s 2040 and 2050 limits and a waste reduction and material recovery plan consistent with the state waste hierarchy and related statutes. The department may provide technical assistance; the owner/operator may propose reductions through carbon capture, recycling, conservation, industrial symbiosis, or other strategies and must consider impacts on overburdened communities and consult local advisory bodies. The department must complete its review within 180 days of receipt and the owner/operator must address comments and finalize the plan within 120 days of receiving those comments and take reasonable steps toward implementation. The extracted text does not identify which state agency is referenced as “the department,” omits the full text of RCW 70A.65.080(2) defining eligible facilities, and the provided material is incomplete in places, so additional specifics or related provisions may appear elsewhere in the bill.

If enacted, pre-1992 waste-to-energy plants that meet air quality rules will receive substantial free greenhouse gas allowances for 2027–2030 roughly equal to their recent average emissions, but 40% of those allowances must be consigned to auction so the facilities will not capture the full value directly. Those facilities can use auction proceeds for approved emissions-reduction projects after submitting a proposal (department review within 90 days) and must still buy extra compliance instruments if they exceed their allowance amounts; they also must file a two-part reduction and waste-recovery plan by December 1, 2030 and begin implementing it after a short review cycle, which will likely require new investments and planning costs and could shift some operating or capital spending toward carbon capture, waste reduction, or other measures. Electric utilities, both consumerand investor-owned, are positioned to receive allocations to blunt rate impacts, with rules due by October 1, 2026 and allocation schedules through 2045, and auction revenues explicitly reserved for ratepayer benefits with priority for low-income customers; utilities servicing emissions‑intensive, trade‑exposed customers may get allowances to cover forecasted electricity-related emissions. The measure creates new rulemaking and program duties for an unspecified state department (with consultations by Commerce and the Utilities and Transportation Commission) and an emissions containment reserve, so administrative workload and oversight costs for those agencies will rise. Key implementation details and the identity of "the department" are not specified in the extracted text, leaving some uncertainty about who will carry out and enforce these steps.