EV policy update for the week of Jan. 12, 2026

[Grace Reamer]

EV POLICY UPDATE 1-12-26

Hello electric vehicle advocates! The Washington State Legislature convened its 2026 session today, and here is the first of weekly updates that will outline EV policies under consideration this year. Most of the EV-related bills that did not advance last session were reintroduced this session. In even years such as this, the legislative session  is short, just 60 days, and concludes on March 12. A lot can happen in just two months if we all participate in the process! Below is a brief summary and information about how to comment and testify. 

NEW

Senate Bill 6008 - Incentivizing grid-connected residential battery energy storage systems. Sponsors Sens. Hunt and Slatter. Establishes a program to provide funding to utilities to grant incentives of up to $13,800 to electricity customers for installation of residential batteries. Referred to the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee. No hearings scheduled yet. Read the text here. Recommendation SUPPORT. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

REINTRODUCED

House Bill 1117 - Removing the delegation of authority relating to California motor vehicle emission standards. Sponsor Rep. Barkis. Repeals the use of California's CARB vehicle emission standards for the purposes of licensing vehicles in Washington. Referred to the House Environment and Energy Committee. No hearing schedule yet. Read the text here. Recommendation: OPPOSE. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

House Bill 1550 - Improving the end-of-life plan for electric vehicle batteries. Companion bill to SB5586. Sponsors Rep. Doglio and Sen. Stanford. Creates a new product stewardship requirement for EV propulsion batteries starting Jan. 1, 2028. Referred to the House Environment and Energy Committee. No hearing schedule yet. Read the text here and here.  Recommendation: SUPPORT. Send a comment to your lawmakers here and here.

House Bill 1721 - Relating to manufacturers and vehicle dealers to allow direct sales. Companion bill to SB5592. Sponsors Rep. Doglio and Sen. Saldana. Lifts the ban on directs sales of vehicles by manufacturers and allows zero-emission-only vehicle manufacturers to sell directly to consumers, if they have never sold through franchised dealers. Referred to the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee. No hearing scheduled yet. Read the text here and here. Send a comment to your lawmakers here and here.

House Bill 1921 - Road usage charge. Sponsor: Rep. Fey. Companion bill to SB5726.  This bill revives the road usage charge proposal that would replace the EV registration fees and eventually the gas tax. Voluntary enrollment for EVs and hybrids would begin July 1, 2027, and the RUC would be mandatory July 1, 2029. Gas vehicles would be phased in later. The rate is set at 2.6 cents per mile. Referred to the House and Senate Transportation Committees. No hearing scheduled yet. Read the text here and here. NO recommendation. Send a comment to your lawmakers here and here.

House Bill 2005 - Enforcement actions for property damage of electric vehicle charging stations. Sponsor: Rep. Barkis. The bill classifies damage to a public EVSE as a gross misdemeanor if the station is valued at less than $1,000, or a Class B or C felony if valued at more than $1,000. Referred to the House Community Safety Committee. No hearings scheduled yet. Read the text here. Recommendation SUPPORT. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

Senate Bill 5042 - Concerning vehicle and operator requirements for autonomous vehicles. Sponsor Sen.Lovick. Requires a human safety operator to be physically present in any autonomous vehicle operated on the highway to monitor its performance and intervene if necessary, The safety operator would have to meet any State or Federal requirements for operating a motor vehicle. Referred to the Senate Transportation Committee. No hearing scheduled yet. Read the text here. No recommendation. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

Senate Bill 5045 - Expanding the state battery stewardship program to include electric vehicle batteries. Sponsor Sen. J. Wilson. Exempts electric vehicle batteries from the existing product stewardship requirements for lead acid batteries and creates a new product stewardship requirement for EV batteries starting Jan. 1, 2029. Referred to the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee. No hearings scheduled yet. Read the text here. Recommendation SUPPORT. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

Senate Bill 5091 - Concerning motor vehicle emission standards for Washington. Sponsor Sen. Boehnke. Similar to HB1117, this bill removes authority for Washington to adopt California's CARB vehicle emission standards and requires the state to follow federal vehicle emission standards. Referred to the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee. No hearing scheduled yet. Read the text here. Recommendation: OPPOSE. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

Senate Bill 5208 - Establishing a new clean energy fund program. Sponsor Sen. MacEwen. Establishes a clean energy fund to provide loans for clean energy projects such as acquiring electric vehicles and installation of charging facilities. Funds would need to be allocated by the Legislature. Referred to the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee. No hearing scheduled yet. Read the text here. Recommendation: SUPPORT. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

Senate Bill 5377 - Protecting consumer choice by creating a fairer marketplace for auto sales. Sponsor Sen. Saldana. This bill removes the Tesla exemption from the ban on direct sales of vehicles by auto manufacturers. It appears to ban Tesla from selling cars in Washington and supports the auto dealership sales model. Referred to the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee. No hearing scheduled yet. Read the text here. Recommendation: OPPOSE. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

Senate Bill 5624 - Developing best practices for responding to electric vehicle fires. Sponsor: Sen. J. Wilson. Directs the Washington State Patrol and Department of Ecology to consult with local fire districts and towing and recovery companies to develop best practices for responding to EV fires, including training, first responder coordination, towing, transporting and storing EVs involved in a fire. Referred to the Senate Transportation Committee. No hearings scheduled yet. Read the text here. Recommendation SUPPORT. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

House Joint Memorial 4003 - Concerning the United States government joining the global community in formally developing a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. Sponsor: Rep. Street. A resolution requesting the federal government to  formally develop a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty as an international mechanism to manage a global transition away from coal, oil, and gas. Read the text here. No recommendation. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

Senate Joint Resolution 8202 - Amending the state Constitution so that state revenue collected from a road usage charge, vehicle miles traveled fee, or other similar type of comparable charge, must be used exclusively for highway purposes. Sponsor: Sen. Fortunato. The bill would place a constitutional amendment on the public ballot to require all funds received from a road usage charge or vehicle-miles-traveled charge to go to the highway fund, and funds could not be used for transportation costs such as public transit or EVSE installation. Referred to the Senate Transportation Committee. No hearings scheduled yet. Read the text here. Recommendation OPPOSE. Send a comment to your lawmakers here.

HOW TO TESTIFY:

If you haven't registered your comments yet, it takes just a minute to sign in with your support or opposition. The online Committee Sign In portal allows you to register your support or opposition to a bill, submit a comment for a public hearing, or sign up to testify online on a Senate or House bill.

You also can call and e-mail your state senators and representatives directly - find your district, names and e-mail addresses at www.leg.wa.gov.

I plan to send out weekly updates during the legislative session, highlighting opportunities to share your thoughts and concerns. Please share with anyone you know who is interested!

Grace

NOTE: If you do not wish to receive these weekly updates, just let me know at gvre...@gmail.com.

[Jay Donnaway]

Thank You Grace for another timely and detailed legislative update!   

I am particularly concerned with HB 1550 and would like to discuss it before SEVA takes a position.   On my first read-through (this year) I see no provisions or changes that would acknowledge our rights as EV battery owners to work on, experiment with, reconfigure, rebuild, or construct EV batteries from scratch.  It seems this bill would turn any "propulsion battery" hobbyist into a commercial entity that must report to the state on an annual basis or risk a $1000 fine per EV pack.  

This is exactly the malarkey that Toyota's lobbyist was pushing for in the original EV Battery Stewardship committee that I represented SEVA on a couple of years ago.  

https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1550&Year=2025

I hope to see many of you for tomorrow night's meeting at DigiPen in Redmond.

-Jay

[Paul Kahle]

Jay, I believe tomorrow night's meeting is scheduled to be at EcoAutoNW in Renton, not at DigiPen in Redmond...  Or have there been changes?

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[SevaS...@hpev.com]

Indeed SEVA is in Renton tomorrow as announced at last month’s meeting and in email last week.

At EcoAutoNW 

805 SW 10th St, Renton, WA 98057

Cheers, -Stephen 

PS (Thanks Grace for all the time you put into such a detailed legislative list!)

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[Mark Yormark]

Wow!  That is quite a list of proposed legislation.

Thank you Grace for posting.

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[sw]

Isn’t there some sort or right to work on own cars??

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

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[Theresa Ramsdell]

I’ve been working on club almost 8 hits a day for the past 2 weeks to try and get the club up and running this year. I do plan to rally support to take this bill down. Hopefully we can do it this time.

No worries about the club. I’m hoping to recruit a few more folks to help with the club this year.

Today’s weather is actually quite decent. It’s sunny and 52 degrees here.

Take care.
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Theresa Ramsdell

[Theresa Ramsdell]

Sorry. I was sharing this thread to another club president as well and
forgot to change the reply to. My bad.
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Theresa Ramsdell
theresa....@gmail.com

[Jeremy Smithson]

SB6008 had a hearing today; a gentleman testified remotely in favor of including two-way inverters for this purpose.  Have we answered the battery warranty question yet?

Jeremy Smithson | Government Affairs

805 Rainier Ave. S.

Seattle, WA 98144

Office 206-706-1931 Cell 206-669-7337

        

On Mon, Jan 12, 2026 at 6:03 PM Grace Reamer <gvre...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Paul Kahle]

Two-way inverters?  Is that the same and a bi-directional EVSE (so you could use your EV as the backup battery)

PK

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