wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 1887 > Original Bill
The legislature intends to update and adapt state tax policy to reflect the economic activity that has emerged with the advent of new technologies. The legislature recognizes that consumers are increasingly conducting their professional and personal affairs online and on devices such as laptop computers, smartphones, or tablets. These activities include accessing the marketplace, the workplace, health care, information, and entertainment. Through these daily activities, consumers generate enormous and unprecedented amounts of data about themselves, including their locations, behaviors, and preferences.
The legislature further recognizes that technological advances have made it possible to more easily and quickly collect vast amounts of personal information and connect it to an individual, whether such information is obtained through electronic or other means.
The legislature finds that there are many businesses engaged in collecting the personal data of Washingtonians, and aggregating, analyzing, sharing, compiling that information, and selling it without Washingtonians' knowledge or consent. This is a new business model that has flourished and is anticipated to grow as more people and more devices are connected with ever-increasing frequency for an ever-greater number of innovative applications. As such, the legislature intends to provide transparency into the number of businesses, volume, and type of activity in this unique and growing industry, and fairly generate revenue from this business activity to be used for the benefit of the state of Washington and its people.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
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"Biometric information" means a record of one or more measurable biological or behavioral characteristics that can be used alone or in combination with each other or with other information for automated recognition of a known or unknown individual. Examples include, but are not limited to: Fingerprints, retina and iris patterns, voiceprints, DNA sequence, facial characteristics, gait, handwriting, key stroke dynamics, and mouse movements.
"Biometric information" does not include writing samples, written signatures, human biological samples used for valid scientific testing or screening, demographic data, tattoo descriptions, or physical descriptions, such as height, weight, hair color, or eye color. "Biometric information" does not include donated organs, tissues, or parts, or blood or serum stored on behalf of recipients or potential recipients of living or cadaveric transplants and obtained or stored by a federally designated organ procurement agency.
"Brokered personal data" means any of the following computerized data elements about a resident individual, if categorized or organized for sale or licensing to another entity:
The resident individual's name or the name of a member of the resident individual's immediate family or household;
The resident individual's address or an address of a member of the resident individual's immediate family or household;
The resident individual's date or place of birth;
The maiden name of the resident individual's mother;
Biometric information about the resident individual;
The resident individual's social security number or the number of any other government-issued identification for the resident individual; or
Other information that, alone or in combination with other information that is sold or licensed, can reasonably be associated with the resident individual.
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"Business entity" means:
A resident individual who regularly engages in commercial activity for the purpose of generating income;
A corporation or nonprofit corporation, limited liability company, partnership or limited liability partnership, business trust, joint venture, or other form of business organization the constituent parts of which share a common economic interest;
A financial institution, as defined in RCW 9A.56.280; or
An individual that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with a person described in (a)(ii) or (iii) of this subsection (3).
"Business entity" does not include the state or a state agency, a local government, or a business entity or other person during a period in which the business entity or person is acting solely on behalf of and at the direction of the state, a state agency, or a local government.
"Data broker" means any business entity that engages in data brokering and does not include:
A consumer reporting agency, as defined in 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681a, a person that furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency, as provided in 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681s-2, or a user of a consumer report, as defined in 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681a, to the extent that the consumer reporting agency, the person that furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency, or the user of a consumer report engages in activities that are subject to regulation under the federal fair credit reporting act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681 et seq.; and
A financial institution, an affiliate, or a nonaffiliated third party, as those terms are defined in 15 U.S.C. Sec. 6809, to the extent that the financial institution, affiliate, or nonaffiliated third party is subject to regulation under Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act, 15 U.S.C. Secs. 6801 to 6809, and regulations adopted under Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act.
"Data brokering" means the act of collecting, aggregating, analyzing, buying, selling, and sharing brokered personal data, irrespective of the business entity's relationship with the resident individual whose data is being brokered.
"Department" means the department of licensing.
"Resident individual" means a person who resides in Washington.
Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, beginning January 1, 2026, a data broker who engages in data brokering must register with the department as provided in section 4 of this act.
A data broker is not required to register with the department if the brokered personal data involves any of the following:
Providing publicly available information that is related to a resident individual's business or profession;
Providing publicly available information as part of a service that provides alerts for health or safety purposes;
Providing directory assistance or directory information services as, or on behalf of, a telecommunications carrier; or
Selling the assets of a business entity or a part of a business entity a single time, or only occasionally, as part of a transfer of control over the assets that is not part of the ordinary conduct of the business entity or a part of the business entity.
Annually, on or before January 1st following a year in which a business entity meets the definition of data broker as provided in section 3 of this act, a data broker must:
Submit on a form and in a format the department specifies:
The name of the data broker;
The street address and telephone number of the data broker; and
The data broker's primary website and email address;
Pay a fee in an amount the department specifies by rule. The department shall set the fee in an amount that is sufficient to pay the costs of administering the registration program as provided in RCW 43.24.086. Any fees or fines collected under the authority of this chapter must be deposited into the business and professions account created in RCW 43.24.150; and
Include with the application form a declaration in which the data broker:
Indicates the type of data the data broker collects, how the data is processed, who the data is sold to, and for what purposes the data is sold;
Specifies how many resident individuals the data broker collected data on each month of the previous year;
Explains what types of security measures the data broker has in place to protect their data;
States whether a resident individual's precise geolocation information is a part of their data brokering activity;
States whether resident individuals' consumer health data, as defined in RCW 19.373.010, is a part of their data brokering activity;
vii.(A) Identifies which of the data broker's activities a resident individual may opt out of; and
(B) Identifies which portion of the resident individual's brokered personal data the resident individual may opt out of providing or permitting the data broker to use;
viii. Describes the method by which a resident individual may exercise the choices described in (vi) and (vii) of this subsection (1)(c); and
ix. States whether a resident individual may authorize an individual to exercise the choice described in (vi) of this subsection (1)(c) on the resident individual's behalf and, if so, the appropriate process for the authorization.
The department shall make the information that business entities submit for registration under this chapter publicly available on the department's website.
The uniform regulation of business and professions act, chapter 18.235 RCW governs unregistered practice, the issuance and denial of registration, and the discipline of registrants under this chapter.
If the registrant is an individual, the department shall immediately suspend the registration of a person who has been certified pursuant to RCW 74.20A.320 by the department of social and health services as a person who is not in compliance with a support order. If the person has continued to meet all other requirements for reinstatement during the suspension, reissuance of the registration shall be automatic upon the department's receipt of a release issued by the department of social and health services stating that the registrant is in compliance with the order.
The department may adopt rules that are necessary to implement the provisions of this chapter.
This chapter applies only to the director and the boards and commissions having jurisdiction in relation to the businesses and professions licensed under the chapters specified in this section. This chapter does not apply to any business or profession not licensed under the chapters specified in this section.
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The director has authority under this chapter in relation to the following businesses and professions:
Auctioneers under chapter 18.11 RCW;
Bail bond agents and bail bond recovery agents under chapter 18.185 RCW;
Camping resorts' operators and salespersons under chapter 19.105 RCW;
Commercial telephone solicitors under chapter 19.158 RCW;
Cosmetologists, barbers, manicurists, and estheticians under chapter 18.16 RCW;
Court reporters under chapter 18.145 RCW;
Driver training schools and instructors under chapter 46.82 RCW;
Employment agencies under chapter 19.31 RCW;
ix. For hire vehicle operators under chapter 46.72 RCW;
Notaries public under chapter 42.45 RCW;
Private investigators under chapter 18.165 RCW;
Professional boxing, martial arts, and wrestling under chapter 67.08 RCW;
Real estate appraisers under chapter 18.140 RCW;
Real estate brokers and salespersons under chapters 18.85 and 18.86 RCW;
Scrap metal processors, scrap metal recyclers, and scrap metal suppliers under chapter 19.290 RCW;
Security guards under chapter 18.170 RCW;
Sellers of travel under chapter 19.138 RCW;
Timeshares and timeshare salespersons under chapter 64.36 RCW;
Whitewater river outfitters under chapter 79A.60 RCW;
Home inspectors under chapter 18.280 RCW;
Body artists, body piercers, and tattoo artists, and body art, body piercing, and tattooing shops and businesses, under chapter 18.300 RCW; and
Appraisal management companies under chapter 18.310 RCW; and
Data brokers under chapter 19.--- RCW (the new chapter created in section 14 of this act).
The boards and commissions having authority under this chapter are as follows:
The state board for architects established in chapter 18.08 RCW;
The Washington state collection agency board established in chapter 19.16 RCW;
The state board of registration for professional engineers and land surveyors established in chapter 18.43 RCW governing licenses issued under chapters 18.43 and 18.210 RCW;
The funeral and cemetery board established in chapter 18.39 RCW governing licenses issued under chapters 18.39 and 68.05 RCW;
The state board of licensure for landscape architects established in chapter 18.96 RCW; and
In addition to the authority to discipline license holders, the disciplinary authority may grant or deny licenses based on the conditions and criteria established in this chapter, chapter 18.415 RCW, and the chapters specified in subsection (2) of this section. This chapter also governs any investigation, hearing, or proceeding relating to denial of licensure or issuance of a license conditioned on the applicant's compliance with an order entered under RCW 18.235.110 by the disciplinary authority.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
"Brokered personal data" means any of the following computerized data elements about a resident individual, if categorized or organized for sale or licensing to another entity:
The resident individual's name or the name of a member of the resident individual's immediate family or household;
The resident individual's address or an address of a member of the resident individual's immediate family or household;
The resident individual's date or place of birth;
The maiden name of the resident individual's mother;
Biometric information about the resident individual;
The resident individual's social security number or the number of any other government-issued identification for the resident individual; or
Other information that, alone or in combination with other information that is sold or licensed, can reasonably be associated with the resident individual.
"Data broker" means any business entity registered with the department of licensing under section of 3 this act.
"Data brokering" means the act of collecting, aggregating, analyzing, buying, selling, and sharing brokered personal data, irrespective of the business entity's relationship with the resident individual whose data is being brokered.
"Resident individual" means a person who resides in Washington.
There is hereby imposed a monthly severance tax on data brokering by data brokers.
The tax under this chapter is imposed on data brokers based on the number of resident individuals a data broker collects brokered personal data on within the month. The amount of the tax is the amount provided in the following table:
If the number of resident individuals is over:
But not more than:
The amount of the tax equals the initial tax amount of:
Plus the per residential individual tax rate of:
0
500,000
$0
5 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 0 but not more than 500,000
500,000
1,000,000
$25,000 per month
10 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 500,000 but not more than 1,000,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
$75,000 per month
15 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 1,000,000 but not more than 1,500,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
$150,000 per month
20 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 1,500,000 but not more than 2,000,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
$250,000 per month
25 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 2,000,000 but not more than 2,500,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
$375,000 per month
30 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 2,500,000 but not more than 3,000,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
$525,000 per month
35 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 3,000,000 but not more than 3,500,000
3,500,000
4,000,000
$700,000 per month
40 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 3,500,000 but not more than 4,000,000
4,000,000
4,500,000
$900,000 per month
45 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 4,000,000 but not more than 4,500,000
4,500,000
5,000,000
$1,125,000 per month
50 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 4,500,000 but not more than 5,000,000
5,000,000
$1,375,000 per month
55 cents per month on the number of resident individuals over 5,000,000
There is a rebuttable presumption that an individual whose information on record with or available to a data broker indicates a Washington home address, a Washington mailing address, or an internet protocol address connected with a Washington location is a resident individual for purposes of this chapter. The presumption may be rebutted by evidence that an individual's primary residence is outside Washington in a form or manner determined by the department.
A resident individual must be counted only once in the calculation of the monthly excise tax imposed on a data broker.
Business entities having common ownership as defined in 26 U.S.C. Sec. 1563(a) of the internal revenue code, as amended, are a single taxpayer for purposes of meeting the definition of data broker under this chapter. The entities constituting the single taxpayer are jointly and severally liable for any tax due.
The single member of a single member limited liability company must be treated as an individual under this chapter.
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A data broker and the department may agree on a methodology for determining the number of resident individuals for the purpose of calculating the tax.
If an agreement is not reached as provided in (a) of this subsection, the department shall determine an acceptable estimation methodology for determining the number of resident individuals for the purpose of calculating the tax.
A data broker must maintain records as required by the department.
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A data broker must file a monthly return as required by the department.
A data broker that pays the tax imposed under section 10 of this act in a given month must file a return in subsequent months until it reports no tax liability for 12 consecutive months.
The department may prescribe rules as may be necessary to administrate and implement this chapter.
Chapter 82.32 RCW applies to the administration of sections 9 through 12 of this act.
Sections 9 through 12 of this act take effect January 1, 2027.