Deed of trust assignment/fee

AN ACT Relating to eliminating the exemption for assignments or 1
substitutions of previously recorded deeds of trust from the document 2
recording fee and the covenant homeownership program assessment; and 3
amending RCW 36.22.185 and 36.22.250. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
Sec. 1. RCW 36.22.185 and 2023 c 340 s 2 are each amended to 6
read as follows: 7
(1) Beginning January 1, 2024, except as provided in subsection 8
(2) of this section, the county auditor must collect a covenant 9
homeownership program assessment of $100 for each document recorded, 10
which is in addition to any other charge, surcharge, or assessment 11
allowed by law. The county auditor may retain up to one percent of 12
the moneys for collection of the assessment and must remit the 13
remainder of the moneys to the state treasurer to be deposited in the 14
covenant homeownership account created in RCW 43.181.020.15
(2) The assessment imposed in this section does not apply to: (a) 16
((Assignments or substitutions of previously recorded deeds of trust; 17
(b) documents)) Documents recording a birth, marriage, divorce, or 18
death; (((c))) (b) any recorded documents otherwise exempted from a 19
recording fee or additional assessments under state law; (((d))) (c) 20
marriage licenses issued by the county auditor; (((e))) (d) documents 21
H-1165.1
HOUSE BILL 1858
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Scott, Doglio, Mena, Parshley, Street, Cortes,
Thai, Simmons, Macri, and Ormsby
Read first time 02/06/25. Referred to Committee on Appropriations.
p. 1 HB 1858
recording a name change order under RCW 4.24.130; or (((f))) (e) 1
documents recording a federal, state, county, city, or water-sewer 2
district, or wage lien or satisfaction of lien. 3
Sec. 2. RCW 36.22.250 and 2023 c 277 s 1 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
(1) A surcharge of $183 per instrument shall be charged by the 6
county auditor for each document recorded, which will be in addition 7
to any other charge authorized by law. The following are exempt from 8
this surcharge: 9
(a) ((Assignments or substitutions of previously recorded deeds 10
of trust;11
(b))) Documents recording a birth, marriage, divorce, or death;12
(((c))) (b) Any recorded documents otherwise exempted from a 13
recording fee or additional surcharges under state law;14
(((d))) (c) Marriage licenses issued by the county auditor; and15
(((e))) (d) Documents recording a federal, state, county, city, 16
or water-sewer district, or wage lien or satisfaction of lien.17
(2) Funds collected pursuant to this section must be distributed 18
and used as follows: 19
(a) One percent of the total funds collected shall be retained by 20
the county auditor for its fee collection activities;21
(b) 30 percent of the total funds collected shall be retained by 22
the county and used by the county as provided in subsection (3) of 23
this section; 24
(c) 54.1 percent of the total funds collected shall be 25
transmitted to the state treasurer to be deposited in the home 26
security fund account created in RCW 43.185C.060 and shall be used by 27
the department of commerce as provided in subsection (4) of this 28
section; 29
(d) 13.1 percent of the total funds collected shall be 30
transmitted to the state treasurer to be deposited in the affordable 31
housing for all account created in RCW 43.185C.190 and shall be used 32
by the department of commerce as provided in subsection (5) of this 33
section; 34
(e) 1.8 percent of the total funds collected shall be transmitted 35
to the state treasurer to be deposited in the landlord mitigation 36
program account created in RCW 43.31.615 and shall be used by the 37
department of commerce as provided in subsection (6) of this section.38
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(3) The county shall use their portion of the collected funds as 1
follows: 2
(a) Up to 10 percent for the county's administration and local 3
distribution of the funds collected from the surcharge in this 4
section, and administrative costs related to the county's homeless 5
housing plan; 6
(b) At least 75 percent will be retained and used by the county 7
to accomplish the purposes of its local homeless housing plan 8
pursuant to chapter 484, Laws of 2005. For each city in the county 9
that elects as authorized in RCW 43.185C.080 to operate its own local 10
homeless housing program, a percentage of the surcharge assessed 11
under this subsection equal to the percentage of the city's local 12
portion of the real estate excise tax collected by the county shall 13
be transmitted at least quarterly to the city treasurer, without any 14
deduction for county administrative costs, for use by the city for 15
program costs which directly contribute to the goals of the city's 16
local homeless housing plan; of the funds received by the city, it 17
may use up to 10 percent for administrative costs for its homeless 18
housing program; 19
(c) At least 15 percent will be retained and used by the county 20
for eligible housing activities, as described in this subsection, 21
that serve extremely low and very low-income households in the county 22
and the cities within a county according to an interlocal agreement 23
between the county and the cities within the county consistent with 24
countywide and local housing needs and policies. A priority must be 25
given to eligible housing activities that serve extremely low-income 26
households with incomes at or below 30 percent of the area median 27
income. Eligible housing activities to be funded are limited to:28
(i) Acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing 29
projects or units within housing projects that are affordable to very 30
low-income households with incomes at or below 50 percent of the area 31
median income, including units for homeownership, rental units, 32
seasonal and permanent farmworker housing units, units reserved for 33
victims of human trafficking and their families, and single room 34
occupancy units; 35
(ii) Supporting building operation and maintenance costs of 36
housing projects or units within housing projects eligible to receive 37
housing trust funds, that are affordable to very low-income 38
households with incomes at or below 50 percent of the area median 39
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income, and that require a supplement to rent income to cover ongoing 1
operating expenses; 2
(iii) Rental assistance vouchers for housing units that are 3
affordable to very low-income households with incomes at or below 50 4
percent of the area median income, including rental housing vouchers 5
for victims of human trafficking and their families, to be 6
administered by a local public housing authority or other local 7
organization that has an existing rental assistance voucher program, 8
consistent with or similar to the United States department of housing 9
and urban development's section 8 rental assistance voucher program 10
standards; and 11
(iv) Operating costs for emergency shelters and licensed 12
overnight youth shelters. 13
(4) The department of commerce shall use the funds from the 14
document recording fee or other fund sources deposited in the home 15
security fund account as follows, except that the department of 16
commerce shall provide counties with the right of first refusal to 17
receive grant funds distributed under (b) of this subsection (4). If 18
a county refuses the funds or does not respond within a time frame 19
established by the department, the department shall make good faith 20
efforts to identify one or more suitable alternative grantees 21
operating within that county. The alternative grantee shall 22
distribute the funds in a manner that is in compliance with this 23
chapter. Funding provided through the office of homeless youth 24
prevention and protection programs created in RCW 43.330.705 is 25
exempt from the county first refusal requirement. 26
(a) Up to 10 percent for administration of the programs 27
established in chapter 43.185C RCW and in conformance with this 28
subsection (4), including the costs of creating and implementing 29
strategic plans, collecting and evaluating data, measuring and 30
reporting performance, providing technical assistance to local 31
governments, providing training to entities delivering services, and 32
developing and maintaining stakeholder relationships;33
(b) At least 90 percent for homelessness assistance grant 34
programs administered by the department, including but not limited 35
to: Temporary rental assistance; eviction prevention rental 36
assistance per RCW 43.185C.185; emergency shelter and transitional 37
housing operations and maintenance; outreach; diversion; HOPE and 38
crisis residential centers; young adult housing; homeless services 39
and case management for adult, family, youth, and young adult 40
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homeless populations and those at risk of homelessness; project-based 1
vouchers for nonprofit housing providers or public housing 2
authorities; tenant-based rent assistance; housing services; rapid 3
rehousing; emergency housing; acquisition; operations; maintenance; 4
and service costs for permanent supportive housing as defined in RCW 5
36.70A.030 for individuals with disabilities. Grantees may also use 6
these funds in partnership with permanent supportive housing programs 7
administered by the office of apple health and homes created in RCW 8
43.330.181. Priority for use must be given to purposes intended to 9
house persons who are chronically homeless or to maintain housing for 10
individuals with disabilities and prior experiences of homelessness, 11
including families with children. 12
(5) The department of commerce shall use the funds from the 13
document recording fee or other fund sources deposited in the 14
affordable housing for all account as follows: 15
(a) Up to 10 percent for program administration and technical 16
assistance necessary for the delivery programs and activities under 17
this subsection (5); 18
(b) At least 90 percent for the following: 19
(i) Grants for building operation and maintenance costs of 20
housing projects, or units within housing projects, that are in the 21
state's housing trust fund portfolio, are affordable to extremely 22
low-income households with incomes at or below 30 percent of the area 23
median income, and require a supplement to rent income to cover 24
ongoing operating expenses; 25
(ii) Grants to support the building operations, maintenance, and 26
supportive service costs for permanent supportive housing projects, 27
or units within housing projects, that have received or will receive 28
funding from the housing trust fund or other public capital funding 29
programs. The supported projects or units must be dedicated as 30
permanent supportive housing as defined in RCW 36.70A.030, be 31
occupied by extremely low-income households with incomes at or below 32
30 percent of the area median income, and require a supplement to 33
rent income to cover ongoing property operations, maintenance, and 34
supportive services expenses. 35
(6) The department of commerce shall use the funds from the 36
document recording fee or other fund sources deposited in the 37
landlord mitigation program account to administer the landlord 38
mitigation program as established in RCW 43.31.605. The department of 39
commerce may use up to 10 percent of these funds for program 40
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administration and the development and maintenance of a database 1
necessary to administer the program. 2
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