This bill creates a new chapter to be codified as Title 50C RCW and adds a Well Washington fund account in the state treasury. It imposes a new payroll expense tax, beginning July 1, 2026, of 5 percent on each employee’s annual wages in excess of the IRS additional Medicare tax threshold (Treasury Decision 9645, referenced at $125,000). All revenues are deposited to the state general fund starting July 1, 2026; beginning July 1, 2027, revenues are split with 51 percent deposited to the Well Washington fund and 49 percent, plus all interest and penalties, deposited to the state general fund. The Well Washington fund may be spent only after appropriation and is limited to higher education, health care (especially Medicaid), cash assistance, and energy and housing programs. The act also creates a 25-member Well Washington Fund Oversight and Accountability Board to advise and report annually to the legislature. The bill establishes who is subject to the tax and how it is administered. It defines a “large operating company” (more than 20 employees, more than $5,000,000 in gross receipts or sales, and a U.S. address) and exempts employers whose total employee wages were under $7,000,000 in the prior calendar year. The tax is imposed on the employer, may not be deducted from employee wages, and employers may claim a limited credit for an eligible city payroll expense tax based on prior remittances (no refunds for credits). The employment security department is designated as “the department” and the commissioner of that department is given duties including annual setting of an excluded employee wage amount, specifying remittance procedures, and adopting rules. The act creates new enforcement, penalty, collection, and appeal procedures administered by the employment security department and its commissioner. It prescribes employer reporting and recordkeeping (six years), penalties for willful failures to report or remit with specified graduated penalty amounts and a penalty equal to the tax for willful nonremittance, interest at 1 percent per month on unpaid taxes, assessment and notice procedures, distraint and sale of assets, liens and warrants filed in superior court, notice and withholding orders, injunction and civil collection remedies, compromise authority, and administrative and judicial appeal processes (ALJ hearings, commissioner review, 30‑day appeal deadlines, stays of collection during appeal under specified conditions). The department may adopt implementing rules and is exempt from certain procurement rules until October 1, 2026. Several sections and sentences are cut off in the provided text (for example the remainder of Sec. 6(4), the end of Sec. 15, and parts of Sec. 22), and other procedural or penalty details that may appear elsewhere in the bill are not included in the extracted facts.

If enacted, large employers in Washington (companies with more than 20 employees, over $5 million in sales, and U.S. addresses) will face a new 5 percent payroll tax on each employee’s annual wages above the IRS additional Medicare tax threshold (currently $125,000). That tax is payable by the employer, cannot be deducted from employee pay, and will increase payroll costs for those firms while creating new reporting and recordkeeping duties (six years of records) and exposure to interest, fines, liens, distraint, and other collection tools if not timely paid. Employers with total wages under $7 million last year are exempt, and employers may get a limited credit for an eligible city payroll tax remitted in prior reporting periods. On the state side, the revenue initially goes to the state general fund and, beginning July 1, 2027, will be split so 51 percent funds a new Well Washington account to be used only (after appropriation) for higher education, health care (especially Medicaid), cash assistance, and energy and housing programs, with the rest and all interest/penalties remaining in the general fund. The Employment Security Department and its commissioner will administer collections, penalties, appeals, and enforcement, and a 25‑member oversight board will advise on accountability; however, some implementation details and the full text of later sections are missing from the provided material, so certain administrative rules, exact remittance procedures, and any additional penalty specifics are unclear.