This bill amends an existing hazardous substance tax provision in RCW 82.21.040 to extend an exemption for certain agricultural crop protection products that are solely for use by a farmer or a certified applicator and that are warehoused in Washington or transported to or from Washington, provided the possessor does not otherwise use, manufacture, package for sale, or sell the substance in Washington. The exemption’s expiration date is changed from January 1, 2028 to January 1, 2038, and the bill also amends an uncodified 2024 provision to classify this tax preference as intended to improve industry competitiveness under RCW 82.32.808(2)(b) and to state related legislative findings. The bill provides statutory definitions for terms used in the exemption (including “agricultural crop protection product,” “certified applicator,” “farmer,” “manufacturing,” “package for sale,” and “use”), authorizes the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to refer to Department of Revenue data for a review of the preference, and states that if a review finds an average increase in hazardous substance tax revenue the legislature intends to extend the preference’s expiration. The Department of Ecology is mentioned as responsible for determining minimal hazardous substance amounts in the related RCW subsection. This is a modification of existing law (an extension and clarification of a tax exemption), with procedural changes for review and data access and an explicit tax-preference classification. The extracted materials omit the chapter citation for the 2026 law, do not include the full statutory definition of “hazardous substance” cited elsewhere, and do not explicitly name “the department” referenced in some RCW cross-references, so those details are unclear from the provided text.

If enacted, the bill keeps a tax exemption in place until January 1, 2038 for certain agricultural crop protection chemicals that are simply warehoused in Washington or moved through the state and are solely for use by a farmer or certified applicator, as long as the holder does not use, manufacture, repackage for sale, or sell the product in Washington. That likely lowers costs and helps competitiveness for farmers, certified applicators, and distributors who only store or transport these products, while entities that mix, repackage, sell, or use them in Washington will not qualify and therefore face unchanged tax obligations; the state will forgo hazardous substance tax revenue that would have returned if the exemption had expired in 2028. The bill directs the joint legislative audit and review committee to use Department of Revenue data for a review and signals the legislature’s intent to extend the exemption further if that review shows an average increase in hazardous substance tax revenue, so future policy could change based on those findings. It also leaves some practical details unclear here, such as the exact statutory chapter citation, the full definition of “hazardous substance,” and which agency is repeatedly referred to as “the department,” any of which could affect implementation.