SB5256 – Requires ending State registration of fossil fuel cars and light vehicles, starting with 2030 models. (Dead)
Prime Sponsor – Senator Liias (D; 21st District; Snohomish County) (Co-sponsor Nguyen – D)
Current status – Referred to the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy and Technology
Next step would be – Scheduling a hearing (Dead)
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
HB1204 is a companion bill in the House.

Comments –
Coltura has a fact sheet about the bill.

Summary –
The bill requires the State Transportation Commission to develop a plan and implement regulations to require that all new vehicles beginning with model year 2030 must be electric to be registered in Washington. (Model-year 2029 and earlier vehicles, emergency vehicles, vehicles over 10,000 pounds, and those bought by residents of another state before becoming Washington residents are not affected.)

The plan’s to be completed by September 1st, 2023, in consultation with other agencies, and must include:
1. The predicted number of new and used electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles registered in Washington each year during a transition period from 2022 through 2040;
2. The charging infrastructure needed to provide convenient fueling of electric vehicles during that period, and predicted yearly investments required to build it;
3. An analysis of the generation, transmission, and distribution upgrades and build-out required to provide fueling for those electric vehicles, and the predicted yearly and aggregate investment required to implement those upgrades;
4. An analysis of how the grid can be optimized through smart charging and discharging of electric vehicles during that period;
5. An analysis of yearly job gains and losses during the period as a result of the requirement, as well as its effect on state transportation revenues
6. Recommendations on alternative sources of revenues to replace gas tax revenues;
7. An analysis of the requirement’s impacts on equity, especially on disadvantaged and low-income communities, communities of color, and rural communities, and strategies for maximizing equity in implementing the requirement; and
8. A just transition strategy for those negatively impacted by it.

The commission’s to conduct a series of public workshops to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the plan, especially including those from disadvantaged and low-income communities. The plan’s to be updated in 2025 and 2028, and the Commission’s to submit copies each time to the Legislature’s transportation committees.

Before January 1, 2025, the commission, in coordination with appropriate agencies, is to adopt regulations consistent with the scoping plan, requiring that all passenger and light duty vehicles of model year 2030 or later sold or registered in Washington state are electric. The regulations are to be designed to maximize equity and total benefits to the state while minimizing costs and risks, minimize the administrative burden of implementing and complying with them, and rely on the best available economic and scientific information and its assessment of existing and projected technological capabilities.

The commission’s to consult with the UTC, investor-owned utilities, public utility districts, and municipal utilities in the development of the regulations insofar as they affect electricity providers, in order to to minimize duplicative or inconsistent regulatory requirements.