This bill creates a new local option sales and use tax and amends existing law on basic law enforcement training. It adds a new section to chapter 82.14 RCW authorizing a county or city legislative authority to impose a 0.10 percent sales and use tax collected from persons taxable under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW; if a city and its county both impose the tax, the city tax must be credited against the county tax. The tax is collected and remitted by "the department" on behalf of the jurisdiction at no cost to the jurisdiction, remitted as provided in RCW 82.14.060. Revenue must be used solely to employ additional full‑time commissioned law enforcement officers, except that if a city’s or county’s commissioned officer rate per 1,000 population exceeds the national rate the jurisdiction may use the revenue in that calendar year for defined "criminal justice purposes." The bill defines how local and national commissioned rates per 1,000 population are calculated using law enforcement employment and population data provided to the federal uniform crime program as of October of the prior calendar year. The bill also supplies definitions for "criminal justice purposes" (including certain domestic violence and related services and, for a specified past period, some local programs addressing homelessness and behavioral health). The bill reenacts and amends RCW 43.101.200 to change basic law enforcement training requirements and procedures: it sets start and completion timelines for recruits depending on hire date (pre‑1990 hires, post‑1990 hires, and limited authority officers hired on or after July 1, 2023), requires the training commission to review incomplete training files for limited authority officers employed before July 1, 2023, and establishes transfer‑exception conditions for certain limited authority officers with prior service at listed agencies and continued employment. It adjusts cost‑reimbursement rules (including multiyear 25 percent employer reimbursement in specified past biennia and fiscal year 2024, a temporary replacement reimbursement program for agencies with 10 or fewer full‑time patrol officers, and full training cost reimbursement by limited authority agencies), and requires the commission to provide at least 27 basic training classes beginning in fiscal year 2026 and at least 28 classes beginning in fiscal year 2027, with the legislature to appropriate sufficient funding for those minimums. Affected entities identified include counties and cities, local law enforcement agencies and commissioned officers, certain limited authority officers and agencies, the unnamed department that will collect the tax, the unnamed commission that oversees training, and domestic violence and legal advocacy programs as defined in RCW 70.123.020. The bill text in the provided excerpts leaves some items unspecified: it does not name which state "department" will collect and remit the tax, it does not identify the specific "commission" by name, it does not describe the procedural mechanism (for example, vote or ordinance) by which a county or city adopts the 0.10 percent tax, it does not provide procedural details for obtaining the federal uniform crime program data, and it does not set or appropriate specific dollar amounts to meet the commission’s minimum class requirements.

If enacted, cities and counties gain a new way to raise modest local revenue (0.10% on sales and use) that is likely to be used first to hire additional full‑time commissioned law enforcement officers, giving local governments a clear funding option to increase officer counts; places that already exceed the national officers‑per‑1,000 rate would instead be able to spend the money on broader criminal justice purposes (including domestic violence services and, through the end of 2026, certain programs aimed at reducing homelessness and behavioral‑health contacts with the justice system). Local law enforcement agencies stand to receive more funding for hiring, but will face new training and reimbursement rules that shift some training costs to agencies (including full reimbursement by limited‑authority agencies and a 25% reimbursement in certain biennia), and small agencies may get limited help paying for temporary replacements when funds are available. The state training body must run substantially more basic law‑enforcement classes beginning in fiscal 2026–2027 and the Legislature must provide the money to do so, which creates a new demand on state appropriations and changes agencies’ staffing and budget planning. Key implementation details are unclear from the provided text: the bill does not name which state department will collect and remit the tax, it does not show the local adoption process for the tax, and it does not specify the dollar amounts the Legislature must appropriate to meet the new minimum training class requirements.