This bill creates a new section that requires the joint legislative audit and review committee (JLARC) to conduct a performance audit of the interstate bridge replacement project that will replace the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River. The audit must cover financial transparency and reporting; expenditure review and accountability (including sampling payments to non‑Washington agencies and review of consultant compensation); forecasting, data use, and decision making; and oversight and internal controls. JLARC may contract for outside expertise in transportation infrastructure, financial management, or project auditing. JLARC must submit a final report to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2027, and the new section expires on December 31, 2027. The audit must analyze funding allocation and spending since the project restart in 2019. Legally, this is a procedural change establishing a new statutory audit requirement and reporting process; it creates a new law section (listed as NEW SECTION. Sec. 1) rather than amending an existing penalty or criminal statute. It does not create new crimes or change penalties; it imposes oversight and reporting duties and authorizes contracting for audit expertise. The text provided is limited in some respects. It does not specify where the new section will be inserted in the Revised Code of Washington, does not define terms used, does not identify the general engineering consultant or contract details, does not state specific dollar amounts mentioned, and does not name the “appropriate committees” or supply prior audit findings or reasons or timelines for the referenced federal record of decision.

If enacted, JLARC will be tasked with a time-limited, in-depth performance audit of the I-5 Columbia River bridge replacement project and must deliver a final report by December 1, 2027. That will put work and likely contracting costs on JLARC (it may hire outside transportation, financial, or audit experts), and it will subject WSDOT, the project team, the project's general engineering consultant, and any non-Washington recipients of project payments to close scrutiny of spending since the project restarted in 2019, consultant pay increases, forecasting and decision-making, and internal controls. The audit’s findings could lead legislators or agencies to demand corrective actions, change oversight practices, or influence future funding or project management decisions, and the review window and explicit December 31, 2027 expiration make this a concentrated, time-bound review. Key uncertainties remain: the law does not identify which legislative committees will receive the report, where the new section is placed in state law, the identities or contract details of the general engineering consultant, the specific dollar figures tied to reported consultant pay increases, or why the federal record of decision has not been obtained, so the exact scope of records JLARC will examine and the immediate downstream consequences for project funding or federal approvals are not fully defined.