House Bill 2543 amends RCW 36.18.016 to revise and set a detailed schedule of fees that county clerks may collect, to specify how certain fees must be allocated, and to add reporting and procedural requirements. The bill was sponsored by Representatives Pollet, Zahn, and Salahuddin, read first on January 16, 2026, passed the House February 11, 2026 (79-16) and the Senate March 3, 2026 (33-15). It modifies existing law rather than creating a new crime or penalty; the changes are primarily financial and administrative. Key legal changes include specific fee amounts (for example, $54 for the initial petition for dissolution with $48 remitted monthly to the state treasury for deposit in the domestic violence prevention account and $6 retained by the county, $36 for filing a petition to modify a dissolution or paternity decree within the same case, jury demand fees of $125 for six-member and $250 for 12-member civil juries, and numerous copying, certification, and processing fees), authority to charge or retain various other fees (including civil arbitration filing fees and fees for historical searches and electronic exhibits), an exemption preventing certain public agencies from charging law enforcement for specified certified sex offender records used for risk assessment or prosecution, and a provision that revenue from these fees constitutes complete reimbursement for the state's share of superior court judges’ benefits paid before July 24, 2005. The bill also authorizes certain fees to be imposed as court costs in specified circumstances. Procedural and administrative changes added by the amendment include a monthly transfer requirement of $48 from the $54 initial petition fee to the state treasury, an annual reporting requirement by counties to the Department of Social and Health Services on revenues and community-based domestic violence services expenditures (reports due by December 15 each year), and a directive that DSHS develop a reporting form. The amendment references and interacts with numerous other statutes and rules (for example RCW 10.46.190, RCW 26.12.240, RAP 9.7, and GR 17). The available text appears to show deletions or formatting marks and some cross-reference numbering that may be inconsistent; it is unclear from these extracted facts whether any language was removed or how subsection numbering is altered, and signature/approval dates beyond the passage votes are not provided.

If enacted, people who use superior courts will face a set of fixed fees for common actions (for example, $54 for the initial dissolution-related petition with $48 of that sent each month to the state’s domestic violence prevention account and roughly $6 kept by the county, $36 for modification petitions, jury demand fees of $125 or $250, and set copying and service charges). Counties and court clerks will have clearer authority to collect a range of fees (including hourly charges for special records searches, passport execution fees, and local arbitration filing fees up to stated caps), which will raise predictable local revenue while the state’s domestic violence prevention account receives a steady stream from the initial petition fee. Law enforcement agencies will not be charged for certain certified sex offender records needed for risk assessment or prosecution, reducing costs for those agencies. County clerks and counties gain modest new revenue but also new duties: clerks must transmit the monthly $48 amounts to the state treasury and counties must report annually, by December 15, to the Department of Social and Health Services on revenues and how they spent money on community-based domestic violence services (DSHS will provide a reporting form). These changes create ongoing administrative work and small compliance costs for counties and clerks. The extracted text shows some formatting and cross-reference ambiguities, so a few implementation details and any removed or renumbered provisions are unclear from these facts.