Title 70A — Title 70A ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

(1) The legislature finds that climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing our state and the world today, an existential crisis with major negative impacts on environmental and human health. Washington is experiencing environmental and community impacts due to climate…

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.(1) "Allowance" means an authorization to emit up to one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent.(2) "Allowance price containment reserve" means an account maintained by th…

(1) To ensure that the program created in RCW 70A.65.060 through 70A.65.210 achieves reductions in criteria pollutants as well as greenhouse gas emissions in overburdened communities highly impacted by air pollution, the department must:(a) Identify overburdened communities, whic…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, each year or biennium, as appropriate, when allocating funds from the carbon emissions reduction account created in RCW 70A.65.240, the climate commitment account created in RCW 7…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) The environmental justice council created in RCW 70A.02.110 must provide recommendations to the legislature, agencies, and the governor in the development and implementation of the program established in RCW 70A.65.060 through 70A.65…

(1) The governor shall establish a governance structure to implement the state's climate commitment under the authority provided under this chapter and other statutory authority to provide accountability for achieving the state's greenhouse gas limits in RCW 70A.45.020, to establ…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) In order to ensure that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by covered entities consistent with the limits established in RCW 70A.45.020, the department must implement a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from covered entities and a pr…

(1)(a)(i) The department shall commence the program by January 1, 2023, by determining an emissions baseline establishing the proportionate share that the total greenhouse gas emissions of covered entities for the first compliance period bears to the total anthropogenic greenhous…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2215-S2.SL) ****** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2367.SL) ***(1) A person is a covered entity as of the beginning of the first compliance period and all subsequent compliance periods if the person reported emissions under RCW 70A.15.2200 for any calendar yea…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2215-S2.SL) ***(1) All covered entities must register to participate in the program, following procedures adopted by the department by rule.(2) Entities registering to participate in the program must describe any direct or indirect affiliation with oth…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) Except as provided in RCW 70A.65.110, 70A.65.120, and 70A.65.130, the department shall distribute allowances through auctions as provided in this section and in rules adopted by the department to implement these sections. An allowanc…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 6246.SL) ***(1) Facilities owned or operated by a covered entity must receive an allocation of allowances for the covered emissions at those facilities under this subsection at no cost if the operations of the facility are classified as emissions-inten…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2416-S2.SL) ***(1) The legislature intends by this section to allow all consumer-owned electric utilities and investor-owned electric utilities subject to the requirements of chapter 19.405 RCW, the Washington clean energy transformation act, to be eli…

(1) For the benefit of ratepayers, allowances must be allocated at no cost to covered entities that are natural gas utilities.(a) By October 1, 2022, the department shall adopt rules, in consultation with the utilities and transportation commission, establishing the methods and p…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2416-S2.SL) ***(1) To help ensure that the price of allowances remains sufficient to incentivize reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the department must establish an emissions containment reserve and set an emissions containment reserve trigger pri…

(1) To help minimize allowance price volatility in the auction, the department shall adopt by rule an auction floor price and a schedule for the floor price to increase by a predetermined amount every year. The department may not sell allowances at bids lower than the auction flo…

(1)(a) The price ceiling for calendar years 2026 and 2027 shall be $80 to provide cost protection for covered entities obligated to comply with this chapter. The department must adjust the allowance price containment reserve tier 2 price to reflect the 2026 and 2027 price ceiling…

(1) The department shall adopt by rule the protocols for establishing offset projects and generating offset credits that may be used to meet a portion of a covered or opt-in entity's compliance obligation under this chapter. The protocols adopted by the department under this sect…

(1) In order to ensure that a sufficient number of high quality offset projects are available under the limits set in RCW 70A.65.170, the department must establish an assistance program for offset projects on federally recognized tribal lands in Washington. The assistance may inc…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2215-S2.SL) ****** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) All covered and opt-in entities are required to submit compliance instruments in a timely manner to meet the entities' compliance obligations and shall comply with all requirements for monit…

(1) Subject to making the findings and conducting the public comment process described in subsection (3) of this section, the department shall seek to enter into linkage agreements with other jurisdictions with external greenhouse gas emissions trading programs in order to:(a) Al…

The department shall adopt rules to implement the provisions of the program established in RCW 70A.65.060 through 70A.65.210. The department may adopt emergency rules pursuant to RCW 34.05.350 for initial implementation of the program, to implement the state omnibus appropriation…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) It is the intent of the legislature that each year the total investments made through the carbon emissions reduction account created in RCW 70A.65.240, the climate commitment account created in RCW 70A.65.260, the natural climate sol…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) The carbon emissions reduction account is created in the state treasury. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account are intended to affect reductions in transportation sector carbon emi…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1)(a) The climate investment account is created in the state treasury. Except as otherwise provided in chapter 316, Laws of 2021, all receipts from the auction of allowances authorized in this chapter must be deposited into the account.…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 5998-S.SL) ****** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) The climate commitment account is created in the state treasury. The account must receive moneys distributed to the account from the climate investment account created in RCW 70A.65.250. Mone…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) The natural climate solutions account is created in the state treasury. All moneys directed to the account from the climate investment account created in RCW 70A.65.250 must be deposited in the account. Moneys in the account may be s…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) The air quality and health disparities improvement account is created in the state treasury. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account are intended to:(a) Improve air quality through t…

(1) By December 1, 2029, the joint legislative audit and review committee must analyze the impacts of the initial five years of program implementation and must submit a report summarizing the analysis to the legislature. The analysis must include, at minimum, the following compon…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) The department shall prepare, post on the department website, and submit to the appropriate committees of the legislature an annual report that identifies all distributions of moneys from the accounts created in RCW 70A.65.240 throug…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) State agencies that receive or have received appropriations from the carbon emissions reduction account in an omnibus transportation appropriations act are required to report information to estimate emission reductions from fuel conv…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2251-S2.SL) ***(1) Agencies that allocate funding or administer grant programs appropriated from the climate investment account created in RCW 70A.65.250, the climate commitment account created in RCW 70A.65.260, and the natural climate solutions accou…

(1) A covered or opt-in entity has a compliance obligation for its emissions during each compliance period, with the first compliance period commencing January 1, 2023. The department shall by rule require that covered or opt-in entities annually transfer a percentage of complian…

(1) A federal power marketing administration may elect to voluntarily participate in the program by registering as an opt-in entity pursuant to the requirements of this section.(2) In registering as an opt-in entity under this section, a federal power marketing administration may…

(1) The department shall provide analysis and forecasts of the compliance instrument markets created by this chapter, including:(a) The prices in primary and secondary compliance instrument markets;(b) Trends in compliance instrument supply and demand and prices;(c) Activities in…

(1) The department shall periodically perform economic modeling for purposes of analyzing design features of the program created by this chapter. This analysis must include the following components:(a) A baseline model assuming implementation of complementary emission reduction m…

(1) By October 1, 2025, the department must post and periodically update on its website a directory tool, by county and, if applicable, city, of the name and address of each retail fuel seller of exempt agricultural fuel under RCW 70A.65.080(7)(e) that has notified the department…

This act may be known and cited as the Washington climate commitment act.[ 2021 c 316 s 37.]

(1) RCW 70A.65.060 through 70A.65.210, and any rules adopted by the department of ecology to implement the program established under those sections, are suspended on December 31, 2055, in the event that the department of ecology determines by December 1, 2055, that the 2050 emiss…