This act creates a new three-year pilot program, administered by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, that would authorize an owner, the owner's immediate family member, the agent of an owner, or the owner's documented employee to monitor a livestock predation site and take the first wolf that returns to that site. Any wolf killed under the pilot must be reported to the department within 24 hours and the carcass surrendered to the department. The department must report on the pilot to the appropriate legislative committees by December 1, 2028. The act includes an overall expiration date of July 1, 2029. The bill also amends RCW 77.15.120 to clarify unlawful taking of endangered fish or wildlife in the second and first degrees and to set associated penalties and license consequences. Under the amendment, second degree unlawful taking is a gross misdemeanor and first degree is a class C felony; a person convicted of a first-degree violation must have any licenses or tags used in the offense revoked and is suspended from hunting, fishing, trapping, or obtaining licenses under the title for two years. The amendment makes the pilot in section 1 an exception to the unlawful-taking provisions and treats a repeat commission of the same act within five years as first-degree criminal treatment. The bill references the federal Endangered Species Act in its provisions. Important details are missing from the extracted text: the pilot’s start date and how its three-year period aligns with the July 1, 2029 expiration; formal definitions for “owner,” “immediate family member,” “agent,” and “documented employee”; which legislative committees must receive the report; and operational standards or procedures for determining and verifying the “first wolf that returns to the site of the predation” and other implementation details.

If enacted, the bill gives livestock owners and their immediate family, agents, or documented employees a new, time-limited option to kill the first wolf that comes back to a confirmed livestock predation site, but anyone who does so must report the kill to the Department of Fish and Wildlife within 24 hours and turn over the carcass. The department must run the three-year pilot, handle surrendered carcasses, and report results to the legislature by December 1, 2028; the whole law ends July 1, 2029. Practically, livestock producers gain a narrow, monitored lethal tool to respond to repeat depredation, while the Department of Fish and Wildlife takes on the administrative and handling burden of running the pilot and receiving reports and carcasses. People who unlawfully take endangered fish or wildlife face stiffer criminal penalties (up to class C felony for first-degree offenses) and loss of hunting/fishing/trapping privileges for two years after certain convictions; the bill does not specify the pilot’s start date, how key roles like “owner” are defined, or how to verify which wolf is the “first” return, leaving operational and enforcement details unclear.