This bill amends and reenacts multiple existing sections of the tax and levy statutes to create new local taxing authorities and to change how certain local taxes and property tax levies are administered. It revises RCW 82.46.035 and RCW 82.46.075 to authorize additional local real estate excise taxes (REET): a 0.25% REET for capital projects (with a detailed definition of “capital project” that includes public works, certain airports, facilities for people experiencing homelessness, and affordable housing) and a 0.5% REET dedicated to affordable housing development. These REET changes include new limits on allowable uses, grandfathering for pre-1992 commitments, voter-approval procedures, plan and consultation requirements, timing and petition rules, assignment and enforcement mechanics for tax obligations, and rules providing credits where both city and county taxes are imposed. The bill also adds new local tax and utility authorities and revises existing sales tax provisions. It creates a new county public utility excise tax (new Sec. 301) allowing counties to tax utilities serving unincorporated areas on gross income (rate cap 3%) with billing, exemption, and credit rules and a requirement that a small share of revenue be used for low-income utility assistance (the text cuts off before that subsection is complete). It adds definitions applicable across the chapter (Sec. 302). It authorizes a new local sales and use tax up to 0.01% for cities/counties to fund services for children and families (Sec. 402) and amends RCW 82.14.530 to continue and modify up to 0.1% local sales/use tax authority for housing and related services, specifying minimum percentages for capital construction/acquisition/rehabilitation, eligible recipients, consultation and unit-priority rules, bonding and pledge authority, and anti-supplanting limits. The bill makes multiple changes to property tax levy law and levy administration (amending RCWs including 84.52.010, 84.52.043, 84.55.005, and 84.55.050). It sets numeric levy limits per $1,000 of assessed value for counties, cities, road districts and aggregate limits for junior and senior districts; prescribes rules requiring levy allocations to change in proportion to changes in the certified county levy; defines “inflation” and “limit factor” for levy calculations; provides a detailed order and procedure for county assessors to recompute and consolidate levies when aggregate limits are exceeded; and expands voter-authorized multi-year levy authority up to ten consecutive years. The act also amends RCW 82.14.049 to permit an additional 1% sales/use tax on retail car rentals with specified uses and allocations. Several parts of the text are incomplete in the provided extracts (including the remainder of the county utility tax subsection and portions of the levy reduction order), and the bill header cites additional RCWs and sections that are not included here. Some effective dates and section-specific expiration or effective dates are provided for parts of the act (for example, various sections apply to taxes collected in 2027 or take effect or expire on specified dates), but full timing for all provisions is not present in the supplied material.

If enacted, the bill gives counties and cities more ways to raise money for capital projects and housing but ties that money to specific plans and voter approvals. Local governments could add a 0.25% real estate excise tax in their areas for capital projects (with limited ability to use a portion for homeless housing), and a 0.5% REET dedicated to affordable housing could be raised with voter approval and must be run through a county or city affordable housing account and competitive grant/loan process. Counties would also be able to impose a new utility excise tax of up to 3% on gross utility income for services in unincorporated areas (billed separately to customers, with credits for city taxes and a small portion reserved to help low-income residents), and cities/counties could adopt small additional local sales taxes (0.01% for children/families and changes to a 0.1% housing tax) and must follow new levy and limit rules that affect how property tax levies are calculated and adjusted over time. Practically, this means more revenue options for local governments and housing providers but likely higher transaction costs for real estate buyers/sellers, potential line-item increases on utility bills, added administrative duties for counties and cities to prepare plans, run competitive programs, consult affected cities, and manage tax credits and voter processes. Key impacted groups are county and city governments (more revenue levers and new administrative responsibilities), utilities (responsible for billing and potential pass-through of the county tax), housing providers and homeless services (potential new capital funding via restricted accounts and interlocal collaborations), and residents as taxpayers, home buyers/sellers, and utility customers who may see higher costs. Several important implementation details are missing from the provided excerpts — for example the utility-tax section cuts off mid-sentence so the full limits on how revenues must be used and other operational rules aren’t shown — and many provisions depend on voter approvals and cross-references to other statutes, so actual local outcomes will hinge on those later, currently-omitted specifics.