This bill amends RCW 19.27A.210 to require the designated state department to establish and periodically update a state energy performance standard for covered commercial buildings. The standard must use ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 100-2018 as an initial model, set energy use intensity (EUI) targets by building type and by climate zone, allow conditional compliance through energy management plans, operations and maintenance programs, investment-grade audits, and prioritized measures, and include certain exemptions (for specified historic properties and some manufacturing/industrial classifications) and alternative compliance for state campus district energy systems. The department must create a database of covered buildings, notify owners of requirements, provide customer support, and require building owners to report compliance on a staggered schedule by building size (compliance reporting dates in 2026–2028 and every five years thereafter). The amendment also creates and limits administrative enforcement and procedures: the department must adopt rules to implement and enforce the standard, grant school district extensions (a single 10-year extension if requested before a scheduled compliance date with a mitigation plan), provide an appeal process for administrative penalties, and may issue notices of violation that identify the legal provision cited upon request. It authorizes administrative penalties for failure to submit compliance documentation with a base maximum of $5,000 plus an additional continuing-violation amount that “may not exceed a daily amount equal to $1 per year per gross square foot,” and allows rulemaking to adjust maximums for inflation. The department must report annually to the governor and specified legislative committees through 2029 on implementation, financial impacts, and incentive amounts under related RCWs. Some important details are missing from the provided text: the specific agency named as “the department” is not identified here; definitions and thresholds for “covered commercial building” and other terms are not included; referenced provisions in RCW 19.27A.220 and 19.27A.260 are not provided; the text cuts off where it begins to describe the disposition of collected administrative penalties; and the extract lists several past deadlines (for rule adoption and notifications) without indicating whether those actions were completed.

If enacted, owners of medium and large commercial buildings will have to start demonstrating every five years that their buildings meet state energy-use targets or follow approved alternative plans. Reporting is phased by building size with initial deadlines in 2026–2028, and owners who fail to provide required documentation could face administrative fines (a one-time cap of $5,000 plus a continuing per-square-foot penalty subject to inflation adjustments). Owners can meet obligations through energy management plans, operations and maintenance programs, audits, and investments that pass investment-grade and life-cycle cost tests, and historic buildings get limited relief where measures would harm historic integrity. Schools and school districts can apply for a one-time, nonrenewable 10-year extension if they submit a mitigation plan before their compliance date, and such timely extension requests protect them from those penalties. The state agency responsible (referred to only as “the department”) must write rules, notify owners, provide outreach and technical support, collect property records from county assessors on request, and report annually to the governor and relevant legislative committees about implementation, costs to owners, and incentives provided. Practically, this shifts compliance costs and project planning burdens onto building owners (audits, possible retrofits, reporting), adds recurring enforcement and reporting duties to the department and workload to county assessors, and creates more explicit incentive tracking; however, the bill text here does not identify which agency is “the department,” does not show where penalty revenues will be deposited, and does not confirm whether earlier deadlines in 2020–2021 were met.