Senate Bill 5929 amends RCW 36.22.185 and RCW 36.22.250 to exempt assignments or substitutions of previously recorded deeds of trust from two specific recording charges: a $100 "covenant homeownership program assessment" collected per recorded document and a $183 per-instrument recording surcharge. The bill establishes that the $100 assessment is collected by county auditors (who may retain up to 1% for collection) and the remainder is remitted to the state treasurer for deposit in the covenant homeownership account; it also specifies a $183 surcharge per recorded instrument with enumerated exemptions (including these deed-of-trust assignments or substitutions) and allows counties to retain 1% of surcharge receipts for fee collection. The bill sets the distribution of surcharge revenue (30% retained by counties; 54.1% to the home security fund account; 13.1% to the affordable housing for all account; 1.8% to the landlord mitigation program account) and prescribes how counties and cities must use and distribute their shares (up to 10% for county administration/local distribution; at least 75% for local homeless housing plans subject to city election; at least 15% for eligible housing activities serving extremely low and very low-income households, with priority to households at or below 30% of area median income). It gives the Department of Commerce a right of first refusal for certain grant funds, allows the department to use up to 10% of certain accounts for administration, and references various state accounts and agencies that will receive or administer funds. The covenant assessment collection requirement begins January 1, 2024. The bill therefore modifies existing law (amending statutory provisions) to create fee exemptions and to change surcharge distribution and related procedural rules. Important context is missing: the prior statutory text is not provided here, and while the bill title mentions exempting these assignments from the "document recording fee," no separate change to a base document recording fee or its statutory citation is shown in the extracted facts.

If enacted, people and companies that record assignments or substitutions of previously recorded deeds of trust will no longer pay the $100 covenant homeownership assessment and the $183 per‑instrument surcharge when they file those specific documents, cutting the out‑of‑pocket recording cost for each such transaction. That lowers transaction costs mainly for lenders, loan servicers, and parties that transfer mortgage interests, and it reduces the number of fee receipts county auditors process (and the small percentage auditors currently keep to cover collection). Counties, cities, the State Treasurer, and programs funded by the surcharge and assessment (including the home security fund, affordable housing for all, and landlord mitigation accounts, plus local homeless housing plans) would likely see reduced revenue flows in proportion to how many of these assignments would otherwise have been recorded. The excerpt does not include prior text or data on recording volumes, so the total fiscal impact on local and state housing program funding is unclear.