This bill amends existing law (RCW 80.50.060 and RCW 42.30.140) to expand and clarify which energy facilities are subject to the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council's certification chapter and to add related procedural requirements. It makes the chapter apply to additional facility types (including certain refined biofuel, alternative energy, transmission lines meeting specified voltage/location criteria, clean energy manufacturing, storage, and fusion facilities) and makes the chapter mandatory for transmission projects of at least 500,000 volts AC or 300,000 volts DC that cross more than one county and serve more than one retail electric utility service area, and for facilities in a national interest electric transmission corridor. The amendment preserves exclusions for normal maintenance and defines "modification" for transmission projects to exclude listed minor changes; it also states that fusion facilities receiving site certification must separately obtain required radiation control licenses or authorizations. The bill establishes procedural requirements: applicants must use council-prescribed forms and supporting technical studies; upon receipt the council chair must notify local governments, the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, and affected federally recognized tribes and must offer government-to-government consultation with tribes that have treaty, statutory, or executive-order protected resources, rights, or interests. The council must work with local governments for meaningful participation, coordinate with tribes and the department on tribal cultural resources, and include a consultation summary in the report to the governor that complies with RCW 42.56.300; the council must provide that summary to the tribe and the tribe has 30 days to request corrections or submit its own summary. The bill also treats such government-to-government consultations with tribes as an exemption under the open public meetings law as specified in RCW 42.30.140. Missing or unclear items in the provided text include the numeric capacity/dimension thresholds referenced in RCW 80.50.020 (subsections (14) and (29)), the specific criteria for a national interest electric transmission corridor under RCW 80.50.045, the exact content requirements of the governor's report under RCW 80.50.100, the requirements of RCW 42.56.300 that the consultation summary must meet, the identity of "designated staff" and which state or federal agencies are "designated" for radiation control authorizations for fusion facilities, and the exact prior statutory language being changed.

If enacted, more kinds of energy projects — including many clean energy manufacturers, storage sites, certain biofuel and alternative energy facilities, large multi-jurisdiction transmission lines, and fusion projects — will fall under the state siting council’s review either by choice or because of size/location. Developers of those projects should expect fuller application requirements, mandatory technical studies, formal notifications to counties, cities, the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, and tribes, offered government‑to‑government consultation, and for fusion projects, separate radiation control licenses. That will likely raise up-front costs and timelines for applicants (for studies, outreach, and possible mitigation), and give local governments and tribes earlier, clearer opportunities to influence siting and raise cultural resource concerns that the council must summarize in its report to the governor. The bill also increases the council’s duties to notify, consult, and coordinate, and it clarifies that routine maintenance or small equipment swaps are not new projects under the law. Important details that affect who exactly is covered and how much additional work or cost this causes are missing from the provided text — specifically the numeric capacity thresholds, which federal/state agencies handle radiation authorizations for fusion facilities, and the exact definition of national interest transmission corridors — so the scale of administrative and financial impacts on applicants, tribes, local governments, and the council itself is uncertain.