The bill amends RCW 66.24.210 to create a preferential tax treatment for a winery's first 20,000 gallons of table wine or cider sold in a calendar year. For those first 20,000 gallons the excise tax is set at $0.0528 per liter and those sales are not subject to the other taxes in RCW 66.24.210 except the tax directed to the Washington wine commission under subsection (3). Taxes collected under this first-20,000-gallon provision must be deposited in the liquor revolving fund and are subject to the allocation to Washington State University in RCW 66.08.180(4). The existing tax rates, additional taxes, reporting and payment requirements, penalties, and special rules for out-of-state and very small domestic wineries otherwise remain in effect for wine and cider sales beyond that threshold. The bill also adds a new statutory tax preference performance statement directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) to evaluate the preference, with an initial evaluation due by January 1, 2030 and a final evaluation due by January 1, 2035. The legislature classifies the change as a tax relief preference intended to promote development of small wineries and lists possible indicators JLARC should consider; JLARC may use state-collected data, including data from the Washington wine commission. The bill defines “cider” for purposes of RCW 66.24.210 and references the statutory definition of fortified wine in RCW 66.04.010. Procedural provisions retained or reinforced include monthly purchaser reporting and tax payment due on or before the 20th day following the month of purchase (with a 2% per month late penalty), and timelines for transferring additional tax revenues where specified. The amendment is a tax law change (a preferential excise tax and a required performance review), not a criminal or sentencing change. The citation to “section 1, chapter . . ., Laws of 2025” is incomplete in the extracted text, and it is not possible from these facts alone to determine whether other related amendments or interacting provisions appear elsewhere in the bill or in other legislation.

Small Washington wineries that sell up to 20,000 gallons of table wine or cider in a calendar year would pay a single, lower excise of $0.0528 per liter on that volume and would not owe the other excise charges normally applied under RCW 66.24.210 (though the Washington wine commission fee still applies). That will likely reduce tax costs and improve cash flow for those small producers, may make it easier for some to stay in business or expand production, and leaves their existing monthly reporting and late‑payment penalties in place so administrative obligations to the Liquor and Cannabis Board largely remain unchanged. On the revenue and administrative side, taxes collected under this first‑20,000‑gallon rule are deposited into the liquor revolving fund and are subject to the statutory allocation to Washington State University, while the Washington wine commission continues to receive its designated share; the Liquor and Cannabis Board, the wine commission, and WSU will be directly involved in collection, reporting, and data for oversight. The Legislature has directed JLARC to evaluate the preference (initially by 1/1/2030 and finally by 1/1/2035) using state data, but the bill text here does not provide projected fiscal impacts or the complete chapter citation and does not show whether other statutory changes elsewhere will affect how much revenue shifts to or from the State General Fund.