Electric/public contracts

AN ACT Relating to authorizing certain public entities to 1
contract for the capability of renewable or nonemitting electric 2
generation projects; amending RCW 35.22.705, 35.23.705, 35.27.610, 3
35.92.420, 35A.80.020, 35A.80.050, 43.52.410, 43.52.595, and 4
54.16.370; and creating a new section. 5
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:6
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that surging demand 7
for electricity and the necessity of meeting Washington's clean 8
energy goals will require local governments and other public entities 9
to have greater flexibility for investing in new electric generation 10
projects. The legislature further finds that such flexibility was 11
previously provided by the legislature, but only for a limited set of 12
qualified alternative energy resources that no longer completely 13
align with newer categories of clean energy resources established in 14
the Washington clean energy transformation act. Therefore, the 15
legislature intends to encourage the development of renewable 16
resources and nonemitting electric generation by making it easier for 17
various public entities to invest in such projects, which are 18
essential to having a successful future for the electric power system 19
in Washington.20
H-2457.1
HOUSE BILL 2103
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Stearns, Parshley, Zahn, Barnard, Ryu, Leavitt,
Simmons, Reed, Fitzgibbon, and Bernbaum
Prefiled 12/05/25. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Local Government.
p. 1 HB 2103
Sec. 2. RCW 35.22.705 and 2003 c 138 s 4 are each amended to 1
read as follows: 2
A city of the first class may contract to purchase from a joint 3
operating agency electric power and energy required for its present 4
or future requirements. For projects ((the output of which is limited 5
to qualified alternative energy resources as defined by RCW 6
19.29A.090(3))) using a renewable resource or nonemitting electric 7
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, the contract may include the 8
purchase of capability of the projects to produce electricity in 9
addition to the actual output of the projects. The contract may 10
provide that the city must make the payments required by the contract 11
whether or not a project is completed, operable, or operating and 12
notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, interference, 13
reduction, or curtailment of the output of a project or the power and 14
energy contracted for. The contract may also provide that payments 15
under the contract are not subject to reduction, whether by offset or 16
otherwise, and shall not be conditioned upon the performance or 17
nonperformance of the joint operating agency or a city, town, or 18
public utility district under the contract or other instrument.19
Sec. 3. RCW 35.23.705 and 2003 c 138 s 5 are each amended to 20
read as follows: 21
A city of the second class may contract to purchase from a joint 22
operating agency electric power and energy required for its present 23
or future requirements. For projects ((the output of which is limited 24
to qualified alternative energy resources as defined by RCW 25
19.29A.090(3))) using a renewable resource or nonemitting electric 26
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, the contract may include the 27
purchase of capability of the projects to produce electricity in 28
addition to the actual output of the projects. The contract may 29
provide that the city must make the payments required by the contract 30
whether or not a project is completed, operable, or operating and 31
notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, interference, 32
reduction, or curtailment of the output of a project or the power and 33
energy contracted for. The contract may also provide that payments 34
under the contract are not subject to reduction, whether by offset or 35
otherwise, and shall not be conditioned upon the performance or 36
nonperformance of the joint operating agency or a city, town, or 37
public utility district under the contract or other instrument.38
p. 2 HB 2103
Sec. 4. RCW 35.27.610 and 2003 c 138 s 6 are each amended to 1
read as follows: 2
A town may contract to purchase from a joint operating agency 3
electric power and energy required for its present or future 4
requirements. For projects ((the output of which is limited to 5
qualified alternative energy resources as defined by RCW 6
19.29A.090(3))) using a renewable resource or nonemitting electric 7
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, the contract may include the 8
purchase of capability of the projects to produce electricity in 9
addition to the actual output of the projects. The contract may 10
provide that the town must make the payments required by the contract 11
whether or not a project is completed, operable, or operating and 12
notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, interference, 13
reduction, or curtailment of the output of a project or the power and 14
energy contracted for. The contract may also provide that payments 15
under the contract are not subject to reduction, whether by offset or 16
otherwise, and shall not be conditioned upon the performance or 17
nonperformance of the joint operating agency or a city, town, or 18
public utility district under the contract or other instrument.19
Sec. 5. RCW 35.92.420 and 2003 c 138 s 3 are each amended to 20
read as follows: 21
A city or town may contract to purchase from a joint operating 22
agency electric power and energy required for its present or future 23
requirements. For projects ((the output of which is limited to 24
qualified alternative energy resources as defined by RCW 25
19.29A.090(3))) using a renewable resource or nonemitting electric 26
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, the contract may include the 27
purchase of capability of the projects to produce electricity in 28
addition to the actual output of the projects. The contract may 29
provide that the city or town must make the payments required by the 30
contract whether or not a project is completed, operable, or 31
operating and notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, 32
interference, reduction, or curtailment of the output of a project or 33
the power and energy contracted for. The contract may also provide 34
that payments under the contract are not subject to reduction, 35
whether by offset or otherwise, and shall not be conditioned upon the 36
performance or nonperformance of the joint operating agency or a 37
city, town, or public utility district under the contract or other 38
instrument. 39
p. 3 HB 2103
Sec. 6. RCW 35A.80.020 and 1967 ex.s. c 119 s 35A.80.020 are 1
each amended to read as follows: 2
Any code city is authorized to enter into contracts or compacts 3
with any commission or any operating agency , public or private 4
project owner, or publicly or privately owned utility for the 5
purchase and sale of electric energy or falling waters , or the 6
purchase of capability of a project to produce electricity in 7
addition to the actual output of the project where the project is 8
limited to using a renewable resource or nonemitting electric 9
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, as provided in RCW 43.52.410 10
and chapter 35.84 RCW and to exercise any other authority granted to 11
cities as provided in chapter 43.52 RCW. 12
Sec. 7. RCW 35A.80.050 and 2003 c 138 s 7 are each amended to 13
read as follows: 14
A code city may contract to purchase from a joint operating 15
agency electric power and energy required for its present or future 16
requirements. For projects ((the output of which is limited to 17
qualified alternative energy resources as defined by RCW 18
19.29A.090(3))) using a renewable resource or nonemitting electric 19
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, the contract may include the 20
purchase of capability of the projects to produce electricity in 21
addition to the actual output of the projects. The contract may 22
provide that the code city must make the payments required by the 23
contract whether or not a project is completed, operable, or 24
operating and notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, 25
interference, reduction, or curtailment of the output of a project or 26
the power and energy contracted for. The contract may also provide 27
that payments under the contract are not subject to reduction, 28
whether by offset or otherwise, and shall not be conditioned upon the 29
performance or nonperformance of the joint operating agency or a 30
city, town, or public utility district under the contract or other 31
instrument. 32
Sec. 8. RCW 43.52.410 and 1983 c 308 s 1 are each amended to 33
read as follows: 34
(1) Any city ((or)), district, or operating agency is authorized 35
to enter into contracts or compacts with any operating agency , public 36
or private project owner, or a publicly or privately owned public 37
utility for the purchase and sale of electric energy or falling 38
p. 4 HB 2103
waters((: PROVIDED, That no city or district may enter into a 1
contract or compact with an operating agency to purchase electric 2
energy, or to purchase or participate in a portion of an electrical 3
generating project, that commits the city or district to pay an 4
amount in excess of an express dollar amount or in excess of an 5
express rate per unit of electrical energy received )) , or the 6
purchase of capability of a project to produce electricity in 7
addition to the actual output of the project where the project is 8
limited to using a renewable resource or nonemitting electric 9
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020. 10
(2) For the purposes of this section, the purchase of capability 11
of a project to produce electricity in addition to the actual output 12
of the project means that the contract may provide that the city, 13
district, or operating agency must make the payments required by the 14
contract whether or not the project is completed, operable, or 15
operating and notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, 16
interference, reduction, or curtailment of the output of the project 17
or the power and energy contracted for. Such contract may also 18
provide that payments under the contract are not subject to 19
reduction, whether by offset or otherwise, and may not be conditioned 20
upon the performance or nonperformance of the operating agency, 21
public or private project owner, or publicly or privately owned 22
public utility, or a city, district, or operating agency under the 23
contract or other instrument.24
Sec. 9. RCW 43.52.595 and 2003 c 138 s 1 are each amended to 25
read as follows: 26
A city or district may contract to purchase from an operating 27
agency electric power and energy required for its present or future 28
requirements. For projects ((the output of which is limited to 29
qualified alternative energy resources as defined by RCW 30
19.29A.090(3))) using a renewable resource or nonemitting electric 31
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, the contract may include the 32
purchase of capability of the projects to produce electricity in 33
addition to the actual output of the projects. The contract may 34
provide that the city or district must make the payments required by 35
the contract whether or not a project is completed, operable, or 36
operating and notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, 37
interference, reduction, or curtailment of the output of a project or 38
the power and energy contracted for. The contract may also provide 39
p. 5 HB 2103
that payments under the contract are not subject to reduction, 1
whether by offset or otherwise, and shall not be conditioned upon the 2
performance or nonperformance of the operating agency or a city or 3
district under the contract or other instrument. 4
Sec. 10. RCW 54.16.370 and 2003 c 138 s 2 are each amended to 5
read as follows: 6
A district may contract to purchase from a joint operating agency 7
electric power and energy required for its present or future 8
requirements. For projects ((the output of which is limited to 9
qualified alternative energy resources as defined by RCW 10
19.29A.090(3))) using a renewable resource or nonemitting electric 11
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, the contract may include the 12
purchase of capability of the projects to produce electricity in 13
addition to the actual output of the projects. The contract may 14
provide that the district must make the payments required by the 15
contract whether or not a project is completed, operable, or 16
operating and notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, 17
interference, reduction, or curtailment of the output of a project or 18
the power and energy contracted for. The contract may also provide 19
that payments under the contract are not subject to reduction, 20
whether by offset or otherwise, and shall not be conditioned upon the 21
performance or nonperformance of the joint operating agency or a 22
city, town, or district under the contract or other instrument.23
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