SB5192 – Requires signage, multiple payment methods, and interoperability for publicly available EV chargers.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Das (D; 47th District; Kent) (Co-Sponsor Lovelett – D)
Current status –
In the Senate – Passed
Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Transportation January 26th. Replaced by a substitute and voted out of committee February 11th; referred to Ways and Means. Had a hearing there March 15. Amended and passed out of committee March 18th. Referred to Rules, and passed the Senate April 6th. Senate concurred in the House’s changes April 22nd.

In the House – Passed
Referred to Appropriations. Had a hearing April 19th, replaced by a striker and voted out of committee April 20th. Referred to Rules, and passed the House April 21st. Returned to the Senate for consideration of concurrence.
Next step would be – To the Governor.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
The NW Energy Coalition maintains a web page supporting and tracking the bill.

Comments –
I’m not sure how expansive the requirement to “facilitate means for conducting a charging session in languages other than English, and means for facilitating charging sessions for consumers who are unbanked, underbanked, or low-moderate income” is, or how one would meet it for everyone in those categories.

Summary –

Striker in House Appropriations –
This made some minor changes which are summarized at the end of it.

Amendments in Ways and Means –
The amendments created a ten year exemption from the requirements for the testing and inspection of weights and measuring equipment for equipment in place before 2024, exempted chargers at auto dealers, and made some other minor changes which are summarized by staff at the beginning of the amended version.

Substitute –
There’s a staff summary of the changes at the beginning of the substitute.

Original bill –
The bill requires publicly available EV chargers to display a specified set of information, and to accept multiple payment methods in accordance with rules created by the Department of Agriculture. It requires the hardware, software, and communications network of a provider of public charging systems to be able to interact with, exchange, and make use of information, including payment information, from a different provider’s systems.

It applies to chargers that a lessee or property owner designates as available only to customers or visitors of a business; or ones that any member of the public can drive to in a parking garage or gated facility, with or without an entrance fee. (However, chargers that are clearly marked as available for use by the general public at no cost at all times are exempt from the bill’s requirements. So are free chargers are clearly marked as reserved for workplace use by workers or contracted employees, and free chargers reserved for residents, tenants, visitors, or employees of a private residence; a development with individually owned units in addition to shared facilities and common areas; or a residential building adjacent to a private residence.) The director of the Department of Agriculture is authorized to expand the requirements to other chargers to benefit the public and protect consumers.

Providers of service at covered chargers are required to clearly mark and disclose all the charges, fees, and costs associated with a charging session at each charger or location at which users can pay for and begin a session. They must include any fee for use of the parking space; any nonmember plug-in fee; the price to refuel in dollars/kWh or megajoule; any potential changes in that price due to variable pricing; and any other fees charged for a charging session. If a session or portion of one is offered at no cost, that must be disclosed.

In consultation with Commerce and the UTC, the department must adopt and update rules requiring charger providers to make multiple payment methods available at all publicly available Level 2 and DC fast chargers. The rules must include deadlines for compliance for previously installed and future chargers, and payment methods that must be available at a minimum. (These must be convenient and reasonably support access; they can include a credit card reader, a toll-free number on each charger that allows starting a session and paying whenever the charger’s available for use, or paying using a mobile phone or device.) They must also provide a means for conducting a charging session in languages other than English; a means for facilitating sessions for consumers who are unbanked, underbanked, or have low to moderate incomes. Providers can’t require a subscription, membership, account or a minimum balance to begin charging; if they sell or intend to sell consumer data from associated with charging, they have to disclose all the types of data they’re collecting to users.

By July 1st, 2022, the department is to require all providers to meet and maintain interoperability standards for these chargers that align with national and international best practices or standards. These should allow the hardware, systems, software, or a communications network provided by one party, vendor, or service provider to interact with exchange and make use of information, including payment information, with the corresponding systems provided by a different one. Starting July 1, 2022, the Department of Commerce, in consultation with Agriculture and the UTC, is to adopt and update rules establishing inventory, payment, and reliability reporting requirements for providers. These must include requirements for collecting and submitting information including provider contact information; certification for each charger model operated in Washington; an inventory of active, retired, decommissioned, or removed charging equipment in the state; annual reports detailing charging equipment payment information; and specifications for reporting data to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Alternative Fuels Data Center.

The Department of Agriculture is allowed to establish a reasonable registration fee for electric vehicle supply equipment to cover the costs associated with enforcing the bill’s requirements. It must adopt, and amend as needed, rules for metering the sale of electricity as a vehicle fuel consistent with the the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s handbooks, except where modified to achieve state objectives. (These may not take effect before January 1, 2024.) It adds penalties of $200 for a first violation, and $500 for each subsequent one, on errors in the metering of electricity use by charging equipment that benefit its owners.