The bill creates two new state programs and a dedicated funding mechanism. It adds new sections to chapter 43.330 RCW to establish a public media broadcaster program and a digital equity program. The public media program awards annual grants to eligible noncommercial, nonreligious, not-for-profit broadcasters that have provided service in the state for at least seven years, with funding prioritized so 85% of awards go to broadcasters with budgets over $1,000,000 (each such award capped at the greater of 8% of annual operating expenses or $1,500,000) and 15% to broadcasters with budgets under $1,000,000 serving rural/frontier counties or urban hyper-local audiences (awards at least $5,000 and no more than 8% of operating expenses). The digital equity program establishes resource coordinators and multimedia producer/trainer roles with specified coordination, referral network, event, multilingual/culturally responsive information, and grant-notification duties. To fund those programs the bill creates a new excise tax and a state treasury account. It imposes a “public media broadcaster and digital equity tax” of $0.20 per month on specified radio access lines, interconnected VoIP service lines, switched access lines (subject to limitations tying taxation to lines capable of simultaneous unrestricted outward calling to the public switched telephone network), and on retail transactions for prepaid wireless sales sourced under RCW 82.32.520(3)(c). Providers and sellers (radio communications service companies, interconnected VoIP companies, local exchange companies, and prepaid wireless sellers) must collect the tax from subscribers or buyers, separately state it on bills or sales invoices, hold collected amounts in trust, and remit them on a department-prescribed tax return. The treasurer must deposit receipts into a public media broadcaster and digital equity account; after appropriation the department may retain up to 3% for administration and evaluation, with the remaining funds split 80% for the public media program and 20% for the digital equity program. The bill also prohibits cities or counties from imposing a per-line tax on the covered lines to fund these purposes. The bill creates new tax-collection duties and legal liabilities and imposes criminal penalties and civil remedies. Companies that appropriate or convert collected tax funds instead of remitting them are guilty of a gross misdemeanor; a company or seller that refuses or fails to collect with intent to violate the chapter, and any subscriber or consumer who refuses to pay the tax, is guilty of a misdemeanor. A collecting company that fails to collect or remit is personally liable to the state for the amount unless it has good-faith documentation, in department-prescribed form, showing the buyer is not a subscriber. Collected tax remains a debt from the subscriber or consumer to the collector until paid; if a company has not paid the tax to the department the department may proceed directly against the subscriber and may add a 10 percent penalty for the subscriber’s failure to pay. Some implementation details are not provided in the extracted facts. The statutory identity or formal name of “the department” is not specified, portions of Section 6 are missing from the provided text, and the provided facts do not include effective dates, the full text of all new sections, or any additional enforcement, reporting, or administrative procedures beyond those summarized.

If enacted, telecommunications companies, local exchange carriers, VoIP providers and sellers of prepaid wireless would add a separate $0.20 monthly tax per eligible line (and collect $0.20 on in‑state prepaid retail sales), hold those receipts in trust, and remit them to the state. Those companies face personal liability and criminal penalties if they misuse collected funds or fail to collect and remit, and subscribers will see the charge separately itemized on bills; cities and counties would be barred from imposing similar per‑line taxes for public media or digital equity. The money would go into a dedicated treasury account, with the administering department allowed to keep up to 3% for program administration and the remainder split 80% for a public media grant program and 20% for a digital equity program that funds coordinators and multimedia trainers; most grant dollars are directed to larger broadcasters while a smaller, earmarked share supports small rural or hyper‑local stations, and all awards are subject to appropriation and must be spent in state. Key details are unclear from the provided text, including which agency is “the department,” the bill’s effective date, full account language, and some penalty and tax return mechanics.