(1) The climate commitment act operating account is created in the state treasury. Receipts from the auction of allowances authorized in this chapter must be deposited into the account as provided in RCW 70A.65.100. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. The legislature intends expenditures from the account to supplement, not supplant, existing expenditures for similar purposes. Expenditures from the account may be used only for the following purposes:
(a) The department's costs to administer the program under this chapter, in an amount not to exceed $25,000,000 per fiscal year adjusted by the implicit price deflator averaged for each fiscal year, as described in RCW 70A.65.100(7)(a);
(b) Programs, activities, and projects in the operating budget that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase resilience to the impacts of climate change, result in long-term environmental benefits, or otherwise achieve the purposes of this chapter;
(c) Tribal capacity grants for tribal consultation under RCW 70A.65.305 or tribal projects and activities related to climate resilience and adaptation, clean energy, state or federal grant funding applications, or other related work;
(d) The working families' tax credit in RCW 82.08.0206;
(e) The same authorized uses as the growth management planning and environmental review fund established in RCW 36.70A.490;
(f) Reduction and mitigation of impacts from greenhouse gases and copollutants in overburdened communities, including strengthening the air quality monitoring network required in RCW 70A.65.020;
(g) Projects or activities to promote electrification or reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity production, distribution, or consumption, including: (i) Utility-scale renewable resources and nonemitting electric generation, as those terms are defined in RCW 19.405.020; (ii) distributed generation; (iii) utility-scale and behind-the-meter energy storage; (iv) demand-side technologies and strategies; (v) grid modernization projects; and (vi) research, development, demonstration, or deployment of new and emerging clean firm energy generation or storage technologies;
(h) Increased energy efficiency or reduced greenhouse gas emissions for industrial facilities including, but not limited to, combined heat and power, district energy, on-site renewables such as solar and wind power, and less emissions-intensive fuel sources;
(i) Increased energy efficiency or reduced greenhouse gas emissions for the agricultural sector including, but not limited to, fertilizer management, soil management, bioenergy, biofuels, grants and other financial incentives for agricultural equipment or food processing, renewable energy projects, farmworker housing weatherization programs, dairy digester research and development, alternative manure management, and the sustainable farms and fields grant program under RCW 89.08.615;
(j) Increased energy efficiency or reduced greenhouse gas emissions in new and existing residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, including low carbon architecture, alternative building materials that result in a lower carbon footprint over the life cycle of the building and component building materials, electric appliances, and equipment for space and water heating;
(k) The expansion of clean manufacturing capacity in communities across Washington, including related community investments such as transportation, municipal service delivery, and technology investments, with an emphasis on communities in greatest need of job creation and economic development and potential for commute reduction;
(l) Improved energy affordability and reduced energy burden for people with lower incomes, including bill assistance, energy efficiency and weatherization programs, and community renewable energy projects that allow qualifying participants to own or receive the benefits of those projects at reduced or no cost;
(m) Assistance for affected fossil fuel workers during the transition to a clean energy economy, including (i) full wage replacement, health benefits, and pension contributions for every worker within five years of retirement; (ii) full wage replacement, health benefits, and pension contributions for every worker with at least one year of service for each year of service up to five years of service; (iii) wage insurance for up to five years for workers reemployed who have more than five years of service; (iv) up to two years of retraining costs, including tuition and related costs, based on in-state community and technical college costs; (v) peer counseling services during transition; (vi) employment placement services, prioritizing employment in the clean energy sector; (vii) relocation expenses; and (viii) workforce development, including forest health workforce initiatives under RCW 76.04.521 and education or jobs related to the clean energy economy;
(n) Reduced emissions from landfills and waste-to-energy facilities through diversion of organic materials, methane capture or conversion strategies, installation of gas collection devices and gas control systems, monitoring and reporting of methane emissions, or other means, prioritizing funding needed for any activities by local governments to comply with chapter 70A.540 RCW;
(o) Carbon dioxide removal and carbon dioxide capture and mineralization or sequestration;
(p) Activities to support efforts to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change affecting Indian tribes;
(q) Environmental justice activities, including implementation of chapter 70A.02 RCW;
(r) Electric vehicles and related costs, such as equipment and infrastructure, and alternative fuel;
(s) Clean water investments that improve resilience from climate impacts. Funding under this subsection (1)(s) must be used to:
(i) Restore and protect estuaries, fisheries, and marine shoreline habitats and prepare for sea level rise;
(ii) Increase carbon storage in the ocean or aquatic and coastal ecosystems;
(iii) Increase the ability to remediate and adapt to the impacts of ocean acidification;
(iv) Reduce flood risk and restore natural floodplain ecological function;
(v) Increase the sustainable supply of water and improve aquatic habitat, including groundwater mapping and modeling;
(vi) Improve infrastructure treating stormwater from previously developed areas within an urban growth boundary designated under chapter 36.70A RCW, with a preference given to projects that use green stormwater infrastructure;
(vii) Either retain or increase, or both, greenhouse gas sequestration and storage benefits from forests, forested wetlands, agricultural soils, tidally influenced agricultural or grazing lands, or freshwater, saltwater, or brackish aquatic lands; or
(viii) Either preserve or establish, or both, greenhouse gas sequestration by protecting or planting trees in marine shorelines and freshwater riparian areas sufficient to promote climate resilience, protect cold water fisheries, and achieve water quality standards;
(t) Healthy forest investments to improve resilience from climate impacts, including but not limited to: (i) Increased forest and community resilience to wildfire; and (ii) improved forest health, including reduced vulnerability to changes in hydrology, insect infestation, and other impacts of climate change; and
(u) Payments to agricultural fuel purchasers.
(2) The legislature intends that at least 25 percent of the total appropriations each biennium from this account and the climate commitment act capital account created in RCW 70A.65.420 are made for the purposes of the clean water and healthy forest investments in subsection (1)(s) and (t) of this section or RCW 70A.65.420(1) (m) and (n).
(3) Moneys in the account may not be used for projects or activities that would violate tribal treaty rights or result in significant long-term damage to critical habitat or ecological functions.
(4) Projects or activities funded from the account must meet high labor standards, including: (a) Employer-paid sick leave programs and other health care benefits; (b) employer-contributed retirement plans; (c) pay practices in relation to living wage indicators, such as the federal poverty level; (d) efforts to evaluate pay equity based on gender identity, race, and other protected status under Washington law; (e) career development opportunities, such as apprenticeship programs, internships, job-shadowing, and on-the-job training; and (f) employment assistance and employment barriers for justice-affected individuals.
(5) Projects or activities funded from the account must maximize access to economic benefits from such projects for local workers and diverse businesses.
[ 2026 c 219 s 1.]
Notes:
Effective date—2026 c 219: "This act takes effect July 1, 2027." [ 2026 c 219 s 22.]