The bill creates the Washington electric transmission authority as a new public body and instrumentality of the state, adds new sections to Title 43 (including chapter 43.21F RCW), and establishes board governance, an executive director, and specific deadlines for appointment and staffing (board by January 1, 2027; executive director by June 30, 2027). The authority’s statutory priorities and duties focus on expanding new electric transmission capacity, partnering to increase access to renewable and nonemitting generation and regional wholesale markets, pursuing cost-effective nonwire alternatives, coordinating upgrades to existing lines, supporting community energy resources, protecting cultural and natural resources, avoiding impacts to overburdened communities, supporting good jobs, and mitigating wildfire risk. The authority may adopt rules (except to direct transmission cost allocation), enter contracts and partnerships, accept grants and federal assistance, own or sell transmission facilities within limits, and exercise eminent domain under chapter 8.04 RCW only to acquire land or rights-of-way for new transmission corridors consistent with the chapter’s purposes. The authority must offer transmission service on facilities it owns under a transmission tariff administered by an entity jurisdictional to FERC, and authority-owned or acquired eligible facilities are not subject to WUTC jurisdiction; however, an electrical company regulated under Title 80 RCW may not include costs of eligible facilities in its rate base without WUTC approval. The bill creates workforce and procurement rules for projects the authority selects or finances, requiring use of qualified electrical employees or contractors tied to registered apprenticeship programs that graduate at least 25% of apprentices and compliance with prevailing wage law. It requires the Department of Commerce to identify high priority transmission corridors by October 30, 2027, to provide interim support for the authority until an executive director is hired, and to staff a tribal clean energy partnership work group that must report (interim by April 1, 2027; final and equity report by December 1, 2027) and expires June 1, 2028. The act also creates an optional expedited SEPA permitting process for certain upgrades to existing 115 kV and above transmission lines conditioned on tribal agreement, establishes DAHP consultation, timelines for tribal survey requests (30 business days) and surveys (reasonable efforts to complete within 60 business days), requires applicants to pay actual permitting survey and plan costs, and makes critical energy infrastructure information and proprietary technical or business information held by the authority confidential and exempt from public disclosure under chapter 42.56 RCW. The bill establishes new state treasury accounts for electric transmission (operating and capital accounts) and creates or reenacts and amends the treasury income account in RCW 43.84.092 so that earnings on invested surplus treasury balances are deposited to the treasury income account, with monthly distribution by the state treasurer generally to the general fund except that many specified accounts (including the new electric transmission capital account) receive proportional shares based on average daily balances. The Office of Financial Management will determine CMIA amounts due and may direct transfers and CMIA refunds and payments to financial institutions must occur prior to distribution; payments for purchased banking services from the treasury income account require no appropriation. The act reenacts and amends RCW 43.84.092 and adds multiple new sections, some with expiration and staggered effective dates noted. Important context is missing in the extracted text: the bill’s definition of “eligible facilities,” the full text of an exception referenced for FERC tariff treatment, some rulemaking criteria and definitions (for example “qualified transmission builder or operator” and “qualified electrical employees”), and the full, uninterrupted list of accounts and any complete cross-referenced sections.

If enacted, the state will create a Washington electric transmission authority that can plan, partner on, finance, own, and sell high‑voltage transmission projects and use eminent domain to secure new corridors, backed by new operating and capital treasury accounts and by coordination with the Department of Commerce. This will shift some planning, permitting, and delivery responsibilities away from individual utilities and local permitting alone toward a state entity that can act as SEPA and tribal consultation lead, offer conduit financing with the state economic development finance authority, collect local investment fees for high‑voltage projects to be shared with affected counties, cities, and tribes, and keep detailed infrastructure information confidential; that combination is likely to speed some large regional projects but also creates new project fees, state financing options, and potential for state‑led land acquisition. The groups most affected are investor‑owned and consumer‑owned utilities, local governments and tribes, contractors and labor, and state finance managers. Utilities may see new partners, possible changes in who builds or owns lines, and limitations on adding certain project costs to rate base without commission approval; local governments and tribes may receive new fee income but will be asked to negotiate early and can shape expedited permitting only by agreement; contractors must meet apprenticeship and prevailing wage rules (including graduating at least 25% of apprentices) which will raise labor standards and likely raise labor costs. Key implementation details remain unclear from the provided text—for example exact definitions of “eligible facilities,” the authority’s exception to certain tariff rules, formulas for fee distribution, and the timing and scope of some treasury and expiration provisions—so how quickly and at what net cost these changes play out is uncertain.