This bill creates a new state law (a new chapter in Title 19 RCW) establishing a corporate homeowner registration program administered by the office of the secretary of state and requires entities with an ownership interest in 20 or more "applicable housing units" (single-family residences or condominium units) in Washington to register. Required registration information includes contact and business details, ownership structure, owners with 10% or more interest, number and addresses of applicable units, end use and purchase price of each unit, and states/countries where the entity does business. Registrations must be updated within 60 days after a sale closes or any change to registration information. Exemptions are provided for banks/financial institutions that acquired units through foreclosure and possessed them for less than 12 months, and for build-to-rent units. The secretary of state may adopt rules and will set the registration fee by rule. The bill creates the corporate homeowner transparency account in the custody of the state treasurer, requires registration fee receipts to be deposited into that account, and limits expenditures from the account to administering registration of entities that own or are divesting applicable housing units; the account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW and does not require an appropriation. The act reenacts and amends RCW 43.79A.040 to include the corporate homeowner transparency account among the many listed accounts and funds that receive a proportionate share of earnings from the investment income account. The amended RCW provisions (as excerpted) reiterate the treasurer’s authority to invest trust fund moneys, to set aside all investment income in the investment income account, to pay purchased banking services from that account prior to distributions, and to distribute earnings monthly to the general fund except for specified accounts and funds which receive proportionate shares or reduced shares as listed. The act includes timing provisions in the extracted text: Section 4 takes effect January 1, 2026; Section 7 expires July 1, 2030; Section 8 takes effect July 1, 2030; and Sections 1–6 constitute the new chapter in Title 19 RCW. Important details are missing from the provided excerpts: the bill’s chapter number is not shown, the full reenacted list in RCW 43.79A.040 is truncated, and the excerpts do not include any enforcement, penalty, public access, data privacy, or reporting format provisions, so it is unclear from these facts whether the bill creates penalties or additional compliance procedures beyond the registration, fee, update, and rulemaking requirements described.

If enacted, companies and other entities that own 20 or more single-family homes or condo units in Washington will have to register with the Secretary of State, provide detailed contact, ownership and property-level information (including owners with 10%+ stakes and purchase prices), pay a fee, and update that information within 60 days of any sale or change. That creates a recurring administrative and cost burden for large corporate owners, REITs, partnerships, LLCs and similar entities, and it increases the visibility of who owns and how properties are being used; banks holding foreclosed properties for less than 12 months and build-to-rent properties are exempted. The Secretary of State will operate the program and set the fee by rule, and fee revenue will go into a new corporate homeowner transparency account held by the State Treasurer to pay program costs without a separate legislative appropriation; that account will also receive its share of investment earnings under the treasurer’s monthly distribution rules. The text provided does not show enforcement mechanisms, penalty amounts, the exact fee level, or whether reported information will be public, so those important implementation details and compliance risks remain unclear.