This bill amends RCW 70A.65.080 to define when persons and entities become "covered entities" for three compliance periods based on reported or provided emissions data, generally using a 25,000 metric ton CO2e threshold in many cases. It adds special rules for first jurisdictional deliverers that import electricity (including different thresholds for specified versus unspecified sources and special treatment for federal power marketing administration purchases), sets timing rules for when new or modified sources begin coverage and when they must transfer their first allowances, and specifies when entities falling below thresholds cease to be covered entities (including a 10% buffer and required 12-month notice). The department is required to adopt by rule, by October 1, 2026 in consultation with linked jurisdictions, the Department of Commerce, and the Utilities and Transportation Commission, a methodology for addressing imported electricity associated with a centralized electricity market, and may by rule allow certain agreements among refineries, fuel suppliers, natural gas facilities, and utilities to assume compliance obligations (with 12 months advance notification). The bill also makes procedural changes to environmental review and permitting. It authorizes the department to adopt rules determining thresholds for when a net cumulative greenhouse gas analysis is required for a project, requires covered emissions to be included in that analysis, and provides that covered emissions may not be used as the basis to deny a permit. It expressly does not require lead or permitting agencies to approve permits. A lead agency or permitting agency must allow a covered or opt-in entity to meet mitigation requirements for its covered emissions under this chapter and under chapter 43.21C RCW by submitting compliance instruments equivalent to those emissions. The act amends RCW 80.80.110 to prohibit state agencies or political subdivisions from imposing greenhouse gas performance standards or other inconsistent or additional requirements on certain coal-fired electric generation facilities or on an electric utility's long-term coal transition purchases (with the restriction not applying after December 31, 2025 for facilities subject to the memorandum of agreement under RCW 80.80.100 that remain in operation). The bill repeals RCW 82.08.811 and RCW 82.12.811 and declares the act necessary for immediate preservation of public peace, health, or safety; it takes effect immediately. Key statutory cross-references and timing provisions included in the extracted text: coverage triggers reference reporting years 2015–2019 for the first compliance period, 2023–2025 for certain waste-to-energy facilities in the second compliance period, and 2027 or 2028 for railroad companies in the third compliance period; a coal-fired electric generation facility exemption applies for emissions prior to January 1, 2026; farm fuel user exemption rules change on January 1, 2030 with an expanded exemption maintained through December 31, 2029; and department notices regarding continued designation or assumption-of-obligation agreements must be given at least 12 months before the applicable compliance period. The extracted text is incomplete in several respects: the specific "department" named in the statute is not identified here; subsection (9) is truncated; full statutory definitions for terms such as "covered entity," "first jurisdictional deliverer," "opt-in entity," and "compliance period" are not provided; the substantive content of the October 1, 2026 methodology and the full amended language of RCW 80.80.110 and the repealed statutes are not included in the provided extracts.

If enacted, the bill will expand who is treated as a regulated "covered entity" based mainly on emissions (commonly at a 25,000 metric ton CO2e threshold) and set clear timing for when new or modified sources must start transferring allowances and for when entities stop being designated. Owners/operators of facilities, electricity importers and first jurisdictional deliverers, fuel and natural gas suppliers, refineries, railroads, and county/city waste-to-energy programs that meet the thresholds will likely face new compliance obligations to obtain and transfer allowances, meet notification windows (including 12-month notices for agreement transfers), and follow rules for how imported electricity is counted (a methodology the department must adopt by October 1, 2026). The bill also carves out certain exemptions (for example, coal-fired generation emissions before January 1, 2026 and changing farm fuel exemptions through 2030), limits some state and local greenhouse gas performance rules for certain older coal plants through the end of 2025, and makes clear that covered emissions must be included in environmental review but cannot by themselves be a legal basis to deny a permit; covered or opt-in facilities can satisfy mitigation by submitting compliance instruments equivalent to their covered emissions. Those most affected will likely see increased ongoing costs for allowances and added administrative work to track, notify, and transfer compliance instruments, but they also gain clear paths to satisfy mitigation and some protection from permit denials based solely on covered emissions. Fuel suppliers and refineries gain an option to contractually assume obligations (if notified in time), which can shift costs and responsibilities between parties. Key uncertainties remain because the statute fragments provided do not name the administering department, do not show the full definitions for several terms, and do not include the content of the required methodology for centralized electricity markets or the detailed changes to RCW 80.80.110 and the repealed tax statutes, so how large the costs and operational impacts will be in practice is still unclear.