House Bill 2734 creates a new state excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, effective January 1, 2028. The tax is imposed on persons distributing these beverages in Washington at a uniform rate of $0.03 per fluid ounce, with taxable volume rules for concentrates. The act characterizes the levy as a general excise tax (not a sales or use tax), applies Chapter 82.32 and certain reporting rules from Chapter 82.04 RCW, and makes transfers within an “affiliated group” and persons already exempt under federal or state law exempt from the tax. No penalties are described in the extracted facts. The bill defines sugar-sweetened beverages and lists several exclusions (for example, beverages where natural milk is the primary ingredient, certain medical beverages, infant formula, 100% juice with no added sweetener, concentrates combined by consumers, beverages under a calorie threshold, and certain medicines). Distributors may claim credits against the new tax for similar pre-2018 municipal sweetened beverage taxes and for tax paid under RCW 82.64.020, each credit capped at the tax due under this chapter. Cities that had a sweetened beverage tax in place before 2018 may amend local ordinances to achieve parity with the state chapter. The act creates a “hunger free Washington account” in the state treasury to receive the tax revenue; funds must be appropriated before spending and are restricted to specified food security and nutrition programs (including SNAP, the state food assistance program, a fruit and vegetable incentives program, free and reduced school meals and farm-to-school programs) and must supplement, not supplant, existing funding. The bill also prohibits the Department of Social and Health Services or other state agencies from seeking a USDA waiver or demonstration project to exclude purchases of taxed sugar-sweetened beverages from the federal definition of eligible foods under 7 C.F.R. § 271.2. Several details are incomplete or not shown in the extracted text, including the full exemptions section, the specific department named for rulemaking and designation of caloric sweeteners, the full text of the amendments to RCW 82.84.040, and the detailed terms for the hunger free Washington account in section 9.

If enacted, the bill creates a statewide excise tax on sugar‑sweetened beverages starting January 1, 2028 at $0.03 per fluid ounce that distributors must pay on their first in‑state distribution; distributors can claim credits for city-level sweetened beverage taxes that existed before 2018 and for certain other taxes, and transfers within affiliated corporate groups and some federally or state‑exempt entities are exempt. The new tax is billed as a general excise tax rather than a sales tax, so distributors, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and ultimately consumers are the most directly affected — distributors will face a new cost that they may pass to retailers and consumers through higher prices, and cities with pre‑2018 soda taxes can adjust local rules to align with the state law; tax revenues must go into a new “hunger free Washington” account and can be spent only after appropriation to supplement, not replace, existing SNAP, state food assistance, fruit and vegetable incentive, school meal and farm‑to‑school programs, and state agencies (including DSHS) are barred from seeking a USDA waiver to exclude taxed beverages from SNAP‑eligible foods. Important implementation details remain unclear from the provided text — the exemptions list is incomplete, the department responsible for rulemaking and designating additional sweeteners is not named, and the bill’s section that would spell out how the hunger free Washington account is governed and how funds are allocated is not included.