Substitute Senate Bill 6351 (S-5580.1) amends and replaces RCW 82.04.050 to change how the terms "sale at retail" and "retail sale" are defined for Washington state sales tax purposes. The bill, introduced in the 69th Legislature (2026) and read for the first time on 03/02/26, expressly provides targeted sales tax exemptions and clarifications intended to increase fiscal resources for students and children by addressing schools, before-and-after school care programs, and arts and cultural classes. The act takes effect July 1, 2026. The statutory changes are primarily definitional and tax-treatment changes rather than criminal or penalty changes. The amended section expands and clarifies many inclusions and exclusions to "sale at retail," defines terms such as "live presentations," "athletic or fitness facility," and "arts and cultural nonprofit organization," and excludes certain charges from retail sale treatment (for example, many separately stated athletic/fitness facility charges, some health-related services when provided under practitioner referral, landlord or employer-provided facility access, and provision of access by educational institutions to their own students and staff). It also provides that certain services and custom software sold to elementary schools, secondary schools, school districts, or educational service districts are not retail sales; specified services defined for that purpose include construction, repair, decoration, land clearing, razing, and landscape maintenance. The bill also states that RCW 82.32.805 and 82.32.808 do not apply to this act. The provided text is incomplete in places. The chunked material ends mid-sentence in several subsections, the full language regarding programs provided by arts and cultural nonprofit organizations is cut off, subsection (7) (the "extended warranty" text) is not included, and other sections of the bill beyond the amended RCW 82.04.050 are not shown. Because those portions are missing from the extracted facts, specific qualifying criteria for the exemptions referenced in the bill title and any additional implementation or reporting provisions cannot be stated here.

If enacted, starting July 1, 2026 elementary and secondary schools, school districts, and educational service districts will generally stop being treated as retail purchasers for a range of services and for custom software, meaning they will not be charged sales tax on construction, repair, landscaping and similar "specified services" and on services listed in subsection (3)(g)–(l) (which include things like information technology services, custom website development, security, temporary staffing, advertising, and certain live presentations). In practical terms this should lower schools' capital and operating costs for building and service contracts and for buying custom software, and it will change vendors’ billing and tax-collection practices for sales to those public education purchasers and reduce the sales tax revenue collected on those transactions. The main winners would be elementary/secondary schools, school districts, and educational service districts and the contractors and software vendors who sell to them; affected vendors will need to adjust invoicing and tax remittance for sales to these public education buyers. The bill also references before-and-after school care programs and arts and cultural nonprofit classes, but the provided text about how those programs qualify and what exemptions they receive is incomplete, so the practical effect for those programs and for any related eligibility rules cannot be determined from the excerpts given.