This bill amends and adds multiple sections of Washington law to expand the state battery stewardship program to cover medium format batteries and electric vehicle (EV) batteries and to revise duties, procedures, and enforcement for producers, retailers, battery stewardship organizations, and collection sites. It requires producers to participate in and fund an approved Washington battery stewardship plan through a registered battery stewardship organization (starting January 1, 2027 for covered batteries generally and with explicit application to medium format and electric vehicle batteries beginning January 1, 2029). Retailers may not sell covered batteries unless the producer certifies participation in an approved plan (effective July 1, 2027 for portable batteries and July 1, 2029 for medium format and EV batteries). The Department of Ecology is the agency named to administer plan approvals, the program website listing, inspections, and enforcement. The bill creates detailed program and operational requirements rather than creating a new criminal offense. Battery stewardship organizations must submit plans by specified deadlines (portable battery plans by July 1, 2026 or within six months after adoption of department rules; medium format and EV battery plans within 24 months after initial rules), meet multi‑year performance goals, fund and operate statewide collection networks, meet recycling efficiency targets (at least 60% for rechargeable batteries and 70% for primary batteries), reimburse local governments for demonstrable collection costs, and provide training, signage, and safety procedures. Collection standards require accessible, continuous, free collection for all covered batteries, limits on where medium format batteries may be collected, annual collection events in counties without permanent sites, and specific geographic service standards (for portable batteries: at least one permanent site within 15 miles for 95% of residents; for medium format batteries: at least 25 permanent sites statewide and a site in counties with 200,000+ people). EV batteries are handled under special provisions: they may be returned to plan‑designated locations, authorized EV battery recyclers that meet safety training requirements, or authorized transporters; programs are not required to remove EV batteries still contained in a vehicle. The bill changes procedures, labeling, and financial practices and adds penalties and enforcement tools. Retailers selling vehicle batteries must accept used vehicle batteries at point of sale in equal quantity to new batteries purchased when offered, post a required notice, and include a core charge of at least $5 (refundable if the used battery and receipt are returned within 30 days). Persons may not dispose of covered batteries to landfills, incinerators, waste‑to‑energy facilities, or in mixed recyclables except as provided; no fee may be charged when unwanted covered batteries are delivered for management. The Department of Ecology may inspect, issue warnings and citations, and impose fines up to $1,000 per vehicle battery violation (each battery is a separate violation); the department may suspend certain lead‑battery transport provisions for up to six months under specified market conditions. Important statutory definitions and some provision text are incomplete or cut off in the provided materials (for example, portions of the covered‑battery exclusions and some amended sections are missing), so the summary is limited to the extracted provisions.

If enacted, producers who sell batteries into Washington will have to join and fund a state-approved battery stewardship program and pay for building and running a statewide collection and recycling network—starting with portable batteries in 2027 and adding medium-format and electric vehicle (EV) batteries by 2029. That will shift most collection, transport, processing, labeling, safety training, public education, and reporting costs onto producers and the nonprofit or producer-led stewardship organizations they fund, and those organizations must provide specific access levels (e.g., 95% of residents within 15 miles for portable batteries, at least 25 medium-format sites statewide, county-level events where needed) and reimburse local governments for demonstrable costs when they serve as collection sites. Retailers must only sell brands whose producers certify participation (and can rely on a department website listing), are not required to be collection sites but must accept used lead-acid vehicle batteries at point of sale and collect a refundable core charge in those sales; consumers get free, continuous, and visible collection and may not be charged at the time they drop off batteries. The Department of Ecology will approve plans, enforce requirements, and can impose fines (including up to $1,000 per vehicle-battery violation) and suspend certain transport rules temporarily under narrow market conditions. Practically, producers should expect new ongoing program fees and administrative obligations, stewardship organizations must invest in secure handling and trained staff (especially for damaged EV batteries) and create reimbursement procedures, and retailers face a compliance check before offering brands for sale and possible operational duties if they choose to host collection. Some implementation details are unclear from the extracted text—most notably full wording of certain sections (including parts of the EV battery collection rules and some exclusions), so exact operational timelines and certain technical definitions may affect costs and timing once the final rules and plan approvals are issued.