This bill authorizes the issuance and sale, at the request of the Department of Transportation, of up to $7,000,000,000 in state general obligation bonds to fund location, design, right-of-way, and construction of highway projects or improvements, and separately authorizes $2,450,000,000 in general obligation bonds for SR 520 corridor projects by amending RCW 47.10.879 and adding new sections to chapter 47.10 RCW. It creates new statutory sections that govern issuance, sale, and retirement of these bonds and declares an emergency so the act takes effect immediately. The changes are fiscal and procedural, not criminal. They direct the State Finance Committee to supervise bond issuance and permit use of short-term obligations when appropriate, require prior legislative appropriation of net proceeds before sale, and allow proceeds to be deposited into the move ahead WA account in the motor vehicle fund. The bonds are declared general obligations pledging the state’s full faith and credit and are first payable from state fuel excise tax receipts and specified vehicle-related license fees; principal and interest are payable from the highway bond retirement fund or a special account certified annually by the State Finance Committee to the State Treasurer. The bill also protects existing distributions of fuel tax and vehicle-fee revenues to the state, counties, cities, and towns from being charged for bond payments except as specified, and requires repayment if other distributable revenues are used. Important contextual details are not included in the extracted text: the bill does not list specific highway projects, does not provide the detailed bond proceedings, schedules, or terms, and relies on other statutes (chapter 39.42 RCW; chapter 82.38 RCW; Title 46 RCW; RCW 47.10.883) whose texts and definitions (for example, the move ahead WA account and highway bond retirement fund) are not provided here.

If enacted, the state could borrow up to $7 billion in general obligation bonds at the Department of Transportation’s request to pay for location, design, right-of-way, and construction of highway projects, and an additional $2.45 billion specifically for SR 520 corridor work that is first payable from tolls and specified fuel and vehicle excise taxes. The State Finance Committee would control how and when the bonds are sold (and may choose short-term or long-term debt to manage interest and marketability), bond proceeds would be deposited into the move ahead WA account, and bond payments would be paid from fuel excise taxes and motor vehicle license fees with annual amounts certified to the State Treasurer by June 30 each year; bonds cannot be offered without prior legislative appropriation of net proceeds and the act takes effect immediately. The Department of Transportation gains a large new borrowing option to fund highway work, the State Finance Committee and State Treasurer take on new oversight and certification duties, and the pledged revenue streams (fuel excise taxes and vehicle license fees, and tolls for SR 520) would be committed to repay the debt. Local governments’ normal distributions of those revenues are protected unless the move ahead WA account is insufficient, in which case other distributable funds could be used temporarily but must be repaid from the first available move ahead WA revenues. The extract does not list specific projects, detailed bond terms, or full definitions of referenced accounts and statutes, so some implementation details remain unclear.