Substitute Senate Bill 5174 amends several sections of chapter 70A.15 RCW, reenacts and amends one section, and adds a new section. The bill directs the Department of Ecology to adopt statewide emission performance standards for new wood burning devices and to use applicable EPA test methodologies, generally requiring consistency with federal standards as they existed on January 1, 2025 and retaining more stringent state standards if EPA later weakens its rules. The bill also restates that no wood burning device may be installed or sold in Washington unless it meets the statewide standards (with specified exclusions for certain fireplaces) and preserves limits on local government authority except as provided by prior law. The bill creates procedural programs and requirements rather than new criminal offenses. It requires the Department to adopt rules and establish a program to determine whether new devices comply with the statewide standards and to publish a list of compliant devices. It also adds a voluntary state verification program (subject to appropriation) in which manufacturers may submit EPA compliance documentation for department review; the department may verify compliant devices, publish notices, deny verification until deficiencies are addressed, and provide technical support. A manufacturer’s participation in the voluntary verification program may not be required as a condition of sale. The bill makes selling noncompliant devices subject to existing penalties and enforcement under the chapter. The bill amends procedures for controlling wood burning during air pollution episodes and sets firstand second-stage impaired air quality triggers defined by specified fine particulate (PM2.5) concentration thresholds and forecast windows. It requires agencies that call second-stage burn bans to prepare a written report within 90 days, which the department must retain for at least five years and make publicly available, and it authorizes the department or local air pollution control authorities to prohibit use of wood burning devices in fine particulate nonattainment areas after consultation and written findings. Enforcement responsibility for prohibitions rests with the department or the local air pollution control authority; specified exceptions apply (for example, residences without an adequate non-wood heat source and detached shops), and prohibitions may include disclosure, removal, or rendering devices inoperable by rule. Important details are missing from the extracted text, including the full text of some amended subsections, the contents of amendments to certain cited RCW sections, specifics of numeric emission limits or test procedures beyond references to federal standards, and the complete text of the new section added to chapter 70A.15.

If enacted, the bill makes Washington require that new and sold wood burning devices meet statewide emission performance standards the Department of Ecology will adopt to be consistent with federal standards as of January 1, 2025, and it bars installing or selling devices that don’t meet those standards using the EPA test methods. The department must run a compliance program and publish a list of devices that meet the standards, and it may run a new voluntary verification program to review EPA certification and formally verify devices if funding is provided; manufacturers’ participation in that voluntary verification cannot be forced as a sales condition. Sellers who offer noncompliant devices face enforcement and penalties, and the law defines clear multi-stage burn-ban triggers and reporting and recordkeeping requirements when authorities call higher-level burn bans. The groups most affected are wood stove and other wood burning device manufacturers (who may face testing, documentation, and compliance costs and who can optionally seek state verification), retailers and anyone selling devices in Washington (who must stop selling noncompliant models), the Department of Ecology (which gains rulemaking, verification, enforcement, publication, and burn-ban reporting duties and will need appropriations and staff), and local air pollution control authorities and residents in nonattainment areas (who may face device-use prohibitions or burn bans, with limited exceptions for homes without other heat). Important details are missing from the extracted text—specific numeric emission limits, the full text of several amended sections, and the exact funding and operational rules for the voluntary verification program—so the timing, scope, and cost implications for compliance and enforcement are not fully clear.