This bill reenacts and amends the residential landlord-tenant statute (chapter 59.18 RCW, including an amended RCW 59.18.030) and adds new sections specifically regulating the use of smart access systems in residential rental properties. It creates new statutory definitions (for example, smart access system, smart access building, authentication data, reference data, biometric identifier information, tenant, tenant representative, single-family residence, and others) and sets operational requirements for landlords of smart access buildings. Substantive legal changes include a procedural and privacy regime for smart access systems: landlords must offer a tenant, on request, an alternative key that does not use biometric identifiers or a mobile phone software application; landlords must make available the written privacy policy of the system developer/operator and must provide tenants a plain-language written policy either at lease signing or within five days of system installation if the developer’s policy does not already include the required information; and a smart access system and its operators may collect only the minimum authentication and reference data necessary to grant access and only specified categories of information are permitted. The act takes effect January 1, 2027. The bill therefore creates new regulatory obligations and procedural requirements for landlords and smart access system operators rather than creating a new crime or changing criminal penalties. Important details are missing from the provided text: the exact categories of data allowed, any enforcement mechanisms, penalties or remedies for noncompliance, whether landlords or tenants bear costs for alternative keys, and the remainder of the amended definition text that was cut off.

If enacted, tenants in buildings that use smart access will be able to avoid biometric scans or mobile‑app entry by requesting an alternative key, and landlords will have to make the smart access system operator’s privacy policy available and give tenants a plain‑language summary either at lease signing or within five days of installation. The law also forces smart access systems to collect only the minimum authentication data needed to grant entry and takes effect January 1, 2027. Practically, landlords of smart access buildings will face new operational duties and likely some added costs: providing alternative non‑biometric or non‑app keys, distributing privacy and policy materials, and coordinating with system developers or operators to limit data collection. Smart access developers, operators, and any third parties that handle access data will have to change practices to limit what they collect. The bill text available does not say who pays for alternative keys or how compliance will be enforced, so those cost and enforcement details remain unclear.