Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5998 (69th Legislature, 2026) amends numerous codified RCW sections and many uncodified sections of 2025 c 424 and reallocates FY2026–FY2027 appropriations across legislative and executive entities. It directs specific funding and work for the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) — including a $400,000 review of juvenile rehabilitation programs (report due June 30, 2026), a $400,000 evaluation of the ignition interlock device program, a $150,000 review of Department of Natural Resources long‑term forest health planning, and a statewide audit of agency auditing/accountability practices (report due June 30, 2027). It also directs $250,000 in FY2027 to each chamber for a joint legislative‑executive committee on budget transparency established elsewhere in the act. The bill amends appropriations and imposes new conditions, earmarks, and reporting requirements across many agencies. Major changes include revised funding and designated uses for the courts, Office of Public Defense, Office of Civil Legal Aid (including funding tied to vacating and resentencing processes related to State v. Blake and the SPAR program), the Department of Commerce (community services, housing, homelessness grants, and a $60,000,000 community reinvestment account), energy and innovation programs (grants, studies and a replacement‑portfolio analysis tied to lower Snake River dams with a final report due June 30, 2027), and multiple other agencies (insurance commissioner, secretary of state, liquor and cannabis board, military department, utilities and transportation commission, and more). The act creates or funds several task forces, studies, pilots, and grant programs with many specified deadlines and some lapse conditions tied to enactment of other bills. The bill makes procedural and oversight changes rather than creating new crimes or altering criminal penalties: it establishes new reporting, data collection, audit, and IT oversight requirements (notably enhanced oversight of the one Washington ERP and statewide IT projects, mandatory dashboard and budget posting rules, gating/certification procedures referenced to section 701 of the act, and agile development and reporting requirements for enterprise EHR and 988 platforms). It also creates a legislatively balanced committee to examine state claims for personal injury and a task force on extremism and mass violence to develop a public‑health and community framework; both must report with recommendations to the governor and legislature by late 2026. The bill funds many targeted programs that touch on sensitive matters (juvenile rehabilitation, vacated convictions, youth safety tip lines, domestic violence services); those items are described here at a high legal level without repeating explicit details. The provided extracts do not include the full text of the act (for example sections 701 and 907 and many amended RCW provisions and uncodified sections are not included), so some implementation details, definitions, and cross‑references cited in the appropriations and conditions are incomplete or unclear from the material supplied.

If enacted, the bill redirects and specifies hundreds of millions in state funding and assigns many new, time‑bound reviews, audits, and targeted grants. Key practical changes include new JLARC reviews (for juvenile rehabilitation, ignition interlock compliance, forest health, and a statewide auditing/accountability review) with deadlines in 2026–2027; earmarked funding to the legislature for a joint budget transparency committee; large, focused appropriations to the courts, public defense, and civil legal aid to respond to State v. Blake and expand services for youth, tenants, and reentry; major Department of Commerce funding for housing, homelessness, energy, and community reinvestment programs (including a $60 million community reinvestment appropriation, $200 million for covenant homeownership, and grants for energy and clean‑energy siting); and strengthened IT and project oversight obligations for OFM, Washington Technology Solutions, and related technology governance bodies with new monthly and annual reporting, dashboarding, and certification gates for large statewide IT projects and EHR/988 platform timelines. Those most affected are the legislature and oversight bodies (JLARC, OFM, WATech/WTS), the judicial system (Administrative Office of the Courts, Office of Public Defense, Office of Civil Legal Aid), the Department of Commerce and housing providers, and agencies running large IT projects. Many agencies will receive new or increased funds but also new responsibilities to produce reports, administer grants, and meet specific deadlines, increasing administrative workload and compliance costs. Some appropriations are conditional on enactment of other bills and others lapse if those bills fail, creating timing and execution risk for programs; important implementation details and review procedures (for example, content of section 701 and some department identities) are not included in these extracts, leaving some uncertainty about final oversight and spending conditions.