RCW ch. 43.385 — Revised Code of Washington Chapter 43.385 RCW — Tourism Promotion—Tourism Assessment Program

RCW 43.385.010 Definitions. The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise. (1) "Assessment" means the annual fee levied on tourism businesses to fund tourism promotion under this chapter. (2) "Authority" means the Washington tourism marketing authority created in RCW 43.384.020. (3) "Department" means the department of commerce. (4) "Director" means the director of the department or his or her designee. (5) "Ratepayer oversight board" means the board of representatives from businesses subject to the assessment. (6) "Tourism business" means businesses that derive a significant portion of revenue from tourism activity in Washington in the following sectors: (a) Lodging; (b) travel services; (c) attractions; (d) recreation; (e) beverage producers; (f) full-service restaurant locations with revenues exceeding $5,000,000 per year; and (g) retailer locations with revenues exceeding $5,000,000 per year. [ 2026 c 229 s 2.] RCW 43.385.020 Tourism assessment program authorized. (1) The legislature authorizes the authority to establish a tourism assessment program, subject to tourism business sector ratification and review of the director. (2) No assessments shall be collected until the referendum process in RCW 43.385.040 is completed and approved by the affected tourism business sector. (3) The authority shall adopt rules as necessary to carry out the purpose and intent of this chapter. The authority shall give substantial weight to the recommendations made under section 3, chapter 189, Laws of 2025, and the design developed under RCW 43.385.040, when developing rules under this chapter. (4) Rules promulgated by the authority shall not apply to any federally recognized Indian tribe, any business owned or operated by a federally recognized Indian tribe, any tribal-owned enterprise, or any business operating on land owned in fee or in trust by a tribe or tribal member, unless the tribe or tribal member has officially opted to participate in the tourism assessment program under RCW 43.385.040. [ 2026 c 229 s 3.] RCW 43.385.030 Ratepayer oversight board. (1)(a) The authority shall appoint a ratepayer oversight board. (b) For the initial board, the tourism self-supported assessment advisory group created by section 3, chapter 189, Laws of 2025 shall prepare a list of nominees for appointment to the ratepayer oversight board. All nominees for membership on the ratepayer oversight board must be employees or officers of tourism businesses proposed to be subject to the assessment imposed under RCW 43.385.040, pursuant to the ratification procedures established under RCW 43.385.050. (c) The initial board must be comprised of at least 10 members with at least two representatives from each sector identified in RCW 43.385.010. (d) Initial board members shall serve for six months or until completion of the initial referendum, and vacancies shall be filled by appointment for the unexpired term. (e) Subsequent appointments shall be made under the process developed under RCW 43.385.040 and ratified under RCW 43.385.050. (f) The authority, with review of the director, may remove any appointed member of the ratepayer oversight board for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance, or four unexcused absences in one year. (2) The ratepayer oversight board shall: (a) Develop an annual budget and expenditure plan; (b) Develop an annual report to the authority and the legislature; and (c) Monitor program effectiveness and recommend adjustments. (3) The authority, with review of the director, shall approve an annual budget and approve and submit annual reports to the legislature and office of the governor. The authority must approve or reject the annual budget recommended by the board and may not amend, replace, or independently adopt policies or provisions not submitted by the board. (4) The ratepayer oversight board shall elect a chair and meet at least quarterly. [ 2026 c 229 s 4.] RCW 43.385.035 Ratepayer oversight board—Budget—Audits. (1)(a) The budget required by RCW 43.385.030(2) must set forth the complete and detailed financial program of the ratepayer oversight board, showing the revenues and expenditures of the board. The budget must be explanatory, describing how the funding is used to administer and implement the board's programs and priorities, and include the reasons for salient changes from the previous fiscal period in expenditure or revenue items. The budget must explain any major changes to financial policy and contain an outline of the proposed financial policies of the board for the ensuing fiscal period and describe performance indicators that demonstrate measurable progress toward the board's priorities. (b) The budget must be sufficiently detailed to provide transparency for the ratepayer oversight board's actions on behalf of the industry. (2) A regular audit shall be conducted under chapter 43.09 RCW. The cost of the audits shall be reimbursed from the tourism assessment program reimbursement account. [ 2026 c 229 s 11.] RCW 43.385.040 Assessments. (1) The ratepayer oversight board shall design and propose to the authority for approval the structure of the assessment program, including: (a) Sector-specific classifications; (b) Assessment methodology and the rates for each business sector; (c) A referendum process for ratification; (d) Opt-out provisions, if applicable; (e) Revenue thresholds for businesses assessed in each sector, where applicable; (f) Program term length, and reauthorization and termination procedures; and (g) The nomination process for the ratepayer oversight board following the initial appointments made in RCW 43.385.030(1). The nomination process designed under this subsection (1)(g) is subject to ratification under RCW 43.385.050. (2) Pursuant to approval by ratification in accordance with RCW 43.385.050, there shall be levied, and the authority shall collect, upon all participating tourism businesses in this state, an annual assessment to be calculated as a percentage of gross revenue. (3) An assessment shall not be applied to any federally recognized Indian tribe, any business owned or operated by a federally recognized Indian tribe, any tribal-owned enterprise, or any business operating on land owned in fee or in trust by a tribe or tribal member, unless the tribe or tribal member has officially opted to participate in the tourism assessment program under this section. [ 2026 c 229 s 5.] RCW 43.385.050 Assessments—Ratification. (1)(a) Within three years of June 11, 2026, the authority shall conduct a referendum among affected businesses to ratify the proposed assessment program. In the case of a failed ratification, the authority may continue to resubmit the same proposal or a modified proposal beyond the three-year limitation. (b) Each assessed business is entitled to a weighted vote in each referendum. In calculating weighted votes, each assessed business receives a vote equal to the projected assessment paid by that business. The initial referendum must be approved by a majority of the weighted votes cast at the referendum. (c) For purposes of voting in any referendum, each assessed business is part of one industry sector and one sector-segment, and for voting purposes only, a business with revenue in more than one industry sector or sector-segment shall only be included in the sector and segment in which it earns the most gross revenue. (d) A sector's assessment may be approved only by a majority of weighted votes from businesses within that same sector. Votes from other sectors are not counted for or against another industry's assessment. (2) Assessments may begin once ratified by vote and shall be collected on an annual basis. (3) The cost of any referendum under this section shall be paid by the authority and reimbursed from assessments collected under RCW 43.385.060. The costs incurred by the department in its role associated with RCW 43.384.020 shall be paid for by the authority, regardless of the passage or failure of any referendum. [ 2026 c 229 s 6.] RCW 43.385.060 Assessments—Accounting. The authority shall collect assessments annually from participating businesses, to be distributed as follows: (1) Funding equal to the amount provided by the state for activities under this section and RCW 43.385.035 and 43.385.050 shall be deposited into the tourism assessment program reimbursement account created under RCW 43.385.090; and (2) Remaining funds shall be deposited in a separate account, named the tourism assessment account, in any bank that is a state depositary. Assessments collected under the program are not considered state money, common cash, or revenue to the state, and are not subject to legislative appropriation. All expenditures and disbursements made from this account under this chapter may be made without the necessity of a specific legislative appropriation. None of the provisions of RCW 43.01.050 apply to this account or to the moneys received, collected, or expended as provided. Funds in the account must be used solely for tourism promotion as defined in RCW 43.384.050. [ 2026 c 229 s 7.] RCW 43.385.070 Assessments—Enforcement. A due and payable assessment levied in such specified amount as determined by the authority constitutes a personal debt of every person so assessed or who otherwise owes the assessment, and the assessment is due and payable to the authority when payment is called for by the authority. If a person fails to pay the authority the full amount of the assessment by the date due, the authority may add to the unpaid assessment an amount not exceeding 10 percent of the assessment to defray the cost of enforcing its collection. If the person fails to pay any such due and payable assessment or other such sum, the authority may bring a civil action for collection against the person or persons in a court of competent jurisdiction. The action shall be tried and judgment rendered as in any other cause of action for a debt due and payable. [ 2026 c 229 s 9.] RCW 43.385.080 Financial and commercial information—Confidentiality. (1) Financial and commercial information submitted to the authority and the ratepayer oversight board under this chapter is confidential and exempt from public inspection and copying under chapter 42.56 RCW. (2) This section does not apply to general statistical summaries that do not identify individual businesses. [ 2026 c 229 s 10.] RCW 43.385.090 Tourism assessment program reimbursement account. The tourism assessment program reimbursement account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. The account shall receive reimbursements from the authority under RCW 43.385.060. Expenditures from the account may only be used for the implementation and operation of the tourism assessment program, including administrative and enforcement costs and audit costs under RCW 43.385.035. Only the director or the director's designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures. [ 2026 c 229 s 8.] RCW 43.385.100 Liability—Immunity of state. Obligations incurred by the authority or ratepayer oversight board and liabilities or claims against the authority or ratepayer oversight board shall be enforced only against the assets of the authority or ratepayer oversight board in the same manner as if it were a corporation and no liability for the debts or actions of the authority or ratepayer oversight board shall exist against either the state of Washington or any subdivision or instrumentality thereof or against any member officer, employee, or agent of the authority or ratepayer oversight board in his or her individual capacity. The members of the authority or ratepayer oversight board, including employees of the authority, shall not be held responsible individually or any way whatsoever to any person for errors in judgment, mistakes, or other acts, either of commission or omission, as principal, agent, person, or employee, except for their own individual acts of dishonesty or crime. No such person or employee shall be held responsible individually for any act or omission of any other member of the authority or ratepayer oversight board. The liability of the members of the authority or ratepayer oversight board shall be several and not joint and no member shall be liable for the default of any other member. [ 2026 c 229 s 12.] RCW 43.385.800 Findings—Intent—2026 c 229. (1) The legislature finds that the history, economy, culture, and future of Washington state are inextricably linked to a vibrant and healthy visitor economy. In order to develop, manage, and promote statewide tourism as part of an existing comprehensive effort to market Washington as a premier travel destination, the legislature declares: (a) That it is vital to the continued economic well-being and general welfare of the citizens of this state that the tourism industry be supported by: (i) Enabling the tourism industry to help themselves through an organized, year-around, statewide assessment program designed to support fair, efficient, and sustained promotion and management of Washington as a visitor destination; and (ii) Enhancing tourism market opportunities and strengthening the industry's long-term competitiveness by increasing travel to and within Washington across leisure, business, and international markets; (b) That tourism-dependent businesses, including lodging, food and beverage, attractions, recreation, cultural institutions, and retail, operate in a regulatory and funding environment that limits marketing autonomy, creates fragmented promotion efforts, and contributes to Washington's declining market share in a highly competitive global visitor economy; (c) That it is in the overriding public interest to clearly express support for the tourism sector and its coordinated and orderly growth; to give adequate recognition and operational resources to tourism as a vital component of Washington's export economy and value-added service sector; and to promote, develop, and manage tourism as an essential statewide industry in order to: (i) Enhance the reputation and image of Washington as a travel destination; (ii) Increase visitor spending from domestic and international markets; strategically positioning the destination and optimizing the benefits of visitation; (iii) Protect the public interest by providing destination development that benefits communities, small businesses, tribes, and other stakeholders and educating travelers about respectful, responsible, and sustainable visitation to communities and public and tribal lands; (iv) Expand tourism-driven economic opportunities, development resources, and community benefits that enhance and do not detract from the unique character of communities, including micro-communities, in urban and rural regions alike; (v) Support and engage in programs and partnerships that benefit the development, management, marketing, and sustainability of tourism across Washington; and (vi) Expand the communication, cooperation, and partnership between the public and private sectors to more effectively meet the needs of both; and (d) That a stable and predictable funding mechanism, developed and governed by the industry through a self-supported assessment, can generate substantial economic returns for the state and empower local businesses, destinations, and communities to compete on a level playing field with neighboring states and national leaders such as California, Oregon, and British Columbia. (2) The legislature intends that any rules adopted to implement this chapter should be guided by the recommendations developed under section 3, chapter 189, Laws of 2025. [ 2026 c 229 s 1.]