This bill amends and adds multiple provisions in Washington law to tighten regulation of cigarettes, tobacco products, and vapor products. It directs the Liquor and Cannabis Board to adopt a voluntary, free "responsible vendor program" for retailers and delivery sellers that requires employee training, ID checks, posted policies, and recordkeeping and that makes participating licensees eligible for a 50 percent reduction of a monetary penalty for a single violation in any 12‑month period. It creates new certification, bonding, and in‑state agent requirements for manufacturers of nicotine‑containing vapor products (effective January 1, 2027), including annual type/model certification fees, a $25,000 corporate surety bond, authority for the board to suspend or revoke certifications, and requirements to keep itemized invoices and retain records for five years. The act expands enforcement, seizure, and forfeiture authority for untaxed or unlicensed vapor products and conveyances, permits inspection of premises and records (including without a warrant during usual business hours), requires seized vapor products to be turned over to the board, and preserves specified exceptions for common carriers and secured parties. It adds new prohibitions and sales restrictions (including bans on free samples, coupons redeemable for free product, discounts below acquisition cost, and, beginning January 1, 2027, sale or marketing of "entertainment vapor products" and certain marketing that imitates products commonly marketed to minors). The board is given enhanced enforcement powers, including detention authority near retailers to confirm age (defined as within 100 feet), authority to seize vapor products in possession of persons under 18 as contraband, mandatory enforcement data collection back to fiscal year 2018 with a statewide reporting requirement beginning December 1, 2023, and required juvenile‑justice training for enforcement officers by July 1, 2024. The bill raises and restructures many license fees (retailer, distributor, delivery seller, wholesaler fees generally set at $1,000 per location with specified additional machine fees), prescribes tiered civil penalties, suspensions, and revocations for repeated violations (including a specified escalating penalty schedule for vapor‑product licensees and cross‑counting of violations across related chapters), and authorizes the board to seek injunctive relief and collections. It reallocates tax and fee revenues to create and fund accounts for cancer research, foundational public health services, and a new youth tobacco and vapor products prevention account with statutory annual funding targets and interagency agreements for enforcement and grant distributions. The Department of Ecology is directed to study stewardship and recycling options for vapor products and report by May 1, 2028; that study provision expires December 1, 2028. Several provisions and references appear incomplete in the extracted text (notably repeated references to a "section 11" whose text was not included, parts of amended RCW sections cut off, and some earlier fee figures that are superseded elsewhere in the bill text), so full interpretation of cross‑references, certain procedural details, and the complete penalty text is uncertain from the provided extracts.

If enacted, this bill will significantly raise compliance, reporting, and cost pressure on anyone who makes, distributes, sells, or transports vapor, cigarette, or other tobacco products in Washington. Retailers face higher license fees (typically $1,000 per location), stricter ID verification requirements using specified official IDs, bans on coupons, free samples, many discounts and “entertainment” vaping products (starting January 1, 2027), and a stepped penalty schedule that can include large fines, license suspensions, and revocation for repeated violations. Manufacturers of nicotine vapor products must be certified beginning January 1, 2027, pay per-model certification fees ($1,000 first submission, $500 thereafter), post a $25,000 U.S. surety bond, appoint an in‑state agent if not registered in Washington, keep five years of invoices and records, and face inspections and seizure risk for noncompliant shipments; noncompliant transporters and unlicensed sellers may have product and conveyances seized and forfeited. The bill reallocates and limits tax and fee flows to create and fund public health priorities: half of vapor product tax revenue and specified license/penalty fees feed accounts for foundational public health services and a new youth tobacco and vapor products prevention account (with $10 million and $20 million annual floors respectively, backfilled from tobacco taxes if needed), and the Department of Health can use up to 30% of prevention account funds to reimburse board enforcement with up to 70% for local grants. These shifts mean sustained new revenue for public health enforcement and prevention but higher regulatory costs and financial risk for industry. Important implementation details are missing from the extracted text—most notably the full content of the manufacturer certification section referenced as “section 11,” some penalty and procedural language, and the formal definitions of “the board” and “the department”—so certain operational timelines, rule specifics, and administrative authorities remain unclear.