This bill amends existing criminal statutes (RCW 9A.88.110, 9A.88.120, and 9A.88.030) and adds a new section declaring an emergency and an effective date of April 1, 2026. It revises the definition of patronizing a person for prostitution to three specific acts involving paying, agreeing to pay, or soliciting sexual conduct for value; allows patronizing to be charged in more than one location and treats sending communications as committed where sent and where received while prohibiting double prosecution for substantially the same crime. Patronizing is a gross misdemeanor but is elevated to a class C felony if the person has two or more prior convictions for that section for conduct occurring after April 1, 2026. The bill creates and adjusts monetary assessments and collection procedures: persons convicted of or who plead to reduced or different charges, receive deferred sentences or prosecutions, or enter statutory or nonstatutory diversion agreements after arrest for patronizing are assessed graduated fees ($3,000–$10,000 depending on number of priors). At least 98 percent of those fee revenues must be directed to community-based, survivor-led organizations providing rehabilitative services, with 2 percent remitted quarterly to the Department of Commerce along with a report. Separate fee schedules and collection rules for other listed prostitution-related offenses are established in amended RCW 9A.88.120, with those revenues deposited in local general funds and required to be used for local efforts to reduce the commercial sale of sex, including that at least 50 percent be spent on prevention and two percent remitted quarterly to the Department of Commerce. Courts may reduce fees only after an on-the-record finding of inability to pay and then by up to two-thirds; superior courts may set monthly payments under RCW 9.94A.760 and lower courts may establish payment plans and charge reasonable administrative fees. RCW 9A.88.030 is amended to define prostitution for persons 18 or older as engaging in, agreeing to, or offering sexual conduct for a fee; law enforcement must refer persons to available services for first and second violations (if available), a third or subsequent violation is a misdemeanor, and assaulting a person engaged in prostitution is a class C felony. The bill also provides that law enforcement shall not arrest a person for prostitution when responding to a person engaged in prostitution who is reporting another crime or when investigating any other crime. Some text in the provided excerpts is incomplete (a section ends mid-sentence, edits and struck text are present, and full texts of certain cross-referenced statutes are not shown), so further specifics or the exact placement of some provisions cannot be confirmed from these extracts.

If enacted, people who pay for sex or are charged with related prostitution offenses will face large, tiered fee penalties even when their case is diverted, reduced, or deferred: for patronizing the basic fees are $3,000 with no prior, $5,000 with one prior, and $10,000 for two or more priors (with related offenses carrying different tiered amounts), and patronizing can be raised from a gross misdemeanor to a class C felony after two or more qualifying prior convictions that occur after April 1, 2026. Courts must collect these fees, can only reduce them after an on-the-record finding of inability to pay (by up to two-thirds), may set monthly payments or payment plans, and court clerks remit money to county or city treasurers; most fees tied to patronizing (at least 98%) must be directed to community-based, survivor-led rehabilitative services while other local fees must be used locally to reduce commercial sex with at least half spent on prevention programs, and 2% of certain revenues quarterly go to the Department of Commerce with a report. The groups most affected are people accused or convicted of prostitution or patronizing (who face much higher costs and a greater risk of felony exposure if they reoffend), community-based survivor service providers (who will receive the bulk of certain fee revenues), local governments and courts (which must collect, manage, and spend revenues under the new rules), law enforcement (which must refer first and second prostitution violations to services and is restricted from arresting someone for prostitution when that person is reporting another crime or when officers are investigating another crime), and the Department of Commerce (which receives small remittances and reporting duties). The bill takes effect April 1, 2026; key implementation details are missing from the provided text (the end of the law enforcement referral provision and some cross-referenced statutory language), so practical enforcement and some administrative responsibilities could be unclear until the full text is reviewed.