This bill creates a new Washington Institute for Scientific Advancement within the Department of Commerce and establishes a competitive grant program, governed by an 11‑member Research Council, to fund scientific research, related construction, and specified research fields. The institute must use open competitive peer review, prioritize projects that replace certain federal funding cuts, require institutional review board approval for funded research, limit administrative expenses to 5% of fund moneys, treat resulting intellectual property under state and federal law, and report annually to the Legislature beginning December 1, 2028. The Open Public Meetings Act applies to the institute; the bill also amends the law on executive sessions to include a range of additional confidential topics and makes grant application materials and review materials for the institute confidential and exempt from public records disclosure. The bill authorizes the state finance committee to issue up to $6,000,000,000 in general obligation bonds to advance scientific research, with a limit of $1,000,000,000 in bond sales per calendar year beginning in 2027 (unused annual capacity may be carried forward). It requires legislative appropriation of net bond proceeds before offering bonds for sale, directs deposit of proceeds into a Washington Institute for Scientific Advancement account (and into a separate taxable bond account if necessary to comply with federal tax rules), and creates a nondebt‑limit general fund bond retirement account and procedures for the treasurer’s annual certification and deposits. The bonds are general obligations pledging the state’s full faith and credit, are legal investments, and allow bondholders to enforce payment; the legislature may provide additional means to raise money for debt service. The act also directs the Secretary of State to submit sections 401–412 to the voters at the next general election; the prescribed ballot statement describes authorizing $6,000,000,000 in general obligation bonds between 2025 and 2031 to fund research through the institute and the Department of Commerce. Several details are not present in the extracted text: the full text of sections that specify the precise allowable uses of proceeds (sections 401 and 403), the complete provisions for the taxable bond account (section 302), the full amended language of RCW 42.30.110, and other implementation and eligibility specifics are missing from these materials.

If enacted and approved by voters, the state could issue up to $6 billion in general obligation bonds to capitalize a new Washington Institute for Scientific Advancement inside the Department of Commerce, and that institute would run a competitive, peer‑reviewed grant program (with IRB review) to fund research in areas listed by the bill—biomedical and disease prevention, detecting new health threats, behavioral and addiction research, climate, weather, ocean and coastal science, wildfire prevention, emerging technologies, and safety/efficacy of drugs, devices, food and cosmetics—with funding phased over three biennia starting in 2025–2027 and administrative costs capped at 5 percent. The institute will be governed by an 11‑member research council, prioritizes projects that replace 2025 federal funding cuts, and allows collaborative projects that involve out‑of‑state partners. Practically, this creates a new source of grant money for Washington researchers and institutions but also creates new obligations for state finances: general state revenues are pledged to repay the bonds, annual bond issuance is capped at $1 billion beginning in 2027 (unused capacity may be carried forward), and the treasurer and finance committee have duties to certify and manage debt service, which could constrain other budget choices. Grant applicants gain potential funding and confidentiality protections for application and review materials, Commerce and the institute gain new hiring and oversight responsibilities, and voters must approve the measure before bonds can be sold; some implementation details and account procedures are not fully shown in the provided text, so exact award rules and certain fiscal mechanics remain unclear.