wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 1678 > Original Bill
The legislature finds that:
Puget Sound, and the complex ecosystem it houses, provides a unique resource of significant environmental, economic, recreational, cultural, and aesthetic value to Washington;
Salmon recovery and the restoration of Puget Sound requires a collaborative approach to address each of the various threats to the survival of salmon;
The environmental impact of untreated wastewater discharges from wastewater treatment plants and combined sewer overflow systems is one of the many challenges facing Puget Sound; and
Salmon need clean and uncontaminated water to thrive. The pollution entering Puget Sound from untreated sewage discharges includes nutrient-rich waste, which can harm sensitive ecosystems. Excess nutrients can lead to eutrophication and decreased dissolved oxygen in water to the detriment of aquatic species. Therefore, removing nutrients from wastewater is crucial. Failure to invest in nutrient removal technology harms treaty-protected rights and threatens economic activity important to the economy, including shellfish growing.
Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to levy a fee on discharges of untreated sewage to Puget Sound in order to defray the costs incurred by the discharge of untreated sewage and to use those funds to improve wastewater treatment infrastructure to help prevent salmonid mortality and hypoxic zones in Puget Sound. We must ensure Washington state fulfills its treaty promises and protects this keystone species that plays a critical role in the Puget Sound ecosystem.
The department shall levy upon every discharger of untreated sewage a fee of 10 cents for every gallon of discharge contaminated by untreated sewage, provided that the following conditions are met:
The source of the discharge is a municipal combined sewer overflow system or a municipal wastewater treatment plant; and
The receiving water body is Puget Sound or a water body in hydrological continuity with Puget Sound.
The fee levied pursuant to this section is separate and apart from any other fee or civil penalty that may be assessed pursuant to any other provision of law, court order, or consent decree.
Funds that accrue to the state from fees levied pursuant to this section must be deposited into the enhanced wastewater treatment infrastructure for salmon recovery account created in section 3 of this act.
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The department shall adopt such rules as may be necessary to implement this section.
In addition to any other rules the department may adopt pursuant to this section, the department must adopt rules that address the following topics:
The establishment of requirements, to the extent that the department does not already require this information, that operators of municipal wastewater treatment plants and municipal combined sewer overflow systems within the Puget Sound watershed provide to the department annual aggregated reports of discharges into state waters of untreated sewage during the previous calendar year; and
The creation of a uniform method of calculating, for the purpose of penalties assessed pursuant to this section, gallons of untreated sewage content in discharges from combined sewer overflow systems.
The enhanced wastewater treatment infrastructure for salmon recovery account is created in the state treasury. All receipts collected from fees under section 2 of this act must be deposited into the account. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used only to make grants to municipalities for wastewater treatment infrastructure projects that remove excess nutrients from discharges to Puget Sound.
(1) All earnings of investments of surplus balances in the state treasury shall be deposited to the treasury income account, which account is hereby established in the state treasury.
(1) All earnings of investments of surplus balances in the state treasury shall be deposited to the treasury income account, which account is hereby established in the state treasury.
Section 4 of this act expires July 1, 2028.
Section 5 of this act takes effect July 1, 2028.