PreK promise account

AN ACT Relating to establishing the preK promise account; 1
reenacting and amending RCW 43.79A.040 and 43.79A.040; adding a new 2
section to chapter 43.216 RCW; providing an effective date; providing 3
an expiration date; and declaring an emergency. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 43.216 6
RCW under the subchapter heading "early childhood education and 7
assistance" to read as follows: 8
(1) The preK promise account is created in the custody of the 9
state treasurer to be used solely and exclusively for the early 10
childhood education and assistance program established in RCW 11
43.216.510. All receipts from any gifts, grants, or donations 12
received by the secretary for the preK promise account must be 13
deposited into the account. Only the secretary may authorize 14
expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment 15
procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not 16
required for expenditures. 17
(2) The department shall track funds received through gifts, 18
grants, or donations separately for each organization or entity that 19
deposits funds into the account. Expenditures from the account may be 20
Z-0534.1
HOUSE BILL 2159
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Bergquist, Eslick, Leavitt, Ryu, Dufault, Berry,
Reed, Zahn, Callan, Wylie, Duerr, Thomas, Berg, Scott, Goodman,
Reeves, Fosse, Salahuddin, Hill, Pollet, and Bernbaum; by request of
Governor Ferguson
Prefiled 12/16/25. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Appropriations.
p. 1 HB 2159
used only to support eligible children in the early childhood 1
education and assistance program established in chapter 43.216 RCW.2
(3) Any residue in the account must be accumulated and may not 3
revert to the general fund at the end of the biennium.4
Sec. 2. RCW 43.79A.040 and 2025 c 399 s 13 and 2025 c 190 s 3 5
are each reenacted and amended to read as follows: 6
(1) Money in the treasurer's trust fund may be deposited, 7
invested, and reinvested by the state treasurer in accordance with 8
RCW 43.84.080 in the same manner and to the same extent as if the 9
money were in the state treasury, and may be commingled with moneys 10
in the state treasury for cash management and cash balance purposes.11
(2) All income received from investment of the treasurer's trust 12
fund must be set aside in an account in the treasury trust fund to be 13
known as the investment income account. 14
(3) The investment income account may be utilized for the payment 15
of purchased banking services on behalf of treasurer's trust funds 16
including, but not limited to, depository, safekeeping, and 17
disbursement functions for the state treasurer or affected state 18
agencies. The investment income account is subject in all respects to 19
chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for payments to 20
financial institutions. Payments must occur prior to distribution of 21
earnings set forth in subsection (4) of this section.22
(4)(a) Monthly, the state treasurer must distribute the earnings 23
credited to the investment income account to the state general fund 24
except under (b), (c), and (d) of this subsection.25
(b) The following accounts and funds must receive their 26
proportionate share of earnings based upon each account's or fund's 27
average daily balance for the period: The 24/7 sobriety account, the 28
Washington promise scholarship account, the Gina Grant Bull memorial 29
legislative page scholarship account, the Rosa Franklin legislative 30
internship program scholarship account, the Washington advanced 31
college tuition payment program account, the Washington college 32
savings program account, the preK promise account, the accessible 33
communities account, the Washington achieving a better life 34
experience program account, the Washington career and college 35
pathways innovation challenge program account, the community and 36
technical college innovation account, the agricultural local fund, 37
the American Indian scholarship endowment fund, the behavioral health 38
loan repayment and scholarship program account, the Billy Frank Jr. 39
p. 2 HB 2159
national statuary hall collection fund, the foster care scholarship 1
endowment fund, the foster care endowed scholarship trust fund, the 2
contract harvesting revolving account, the Washington state combined 3
fund drive account, the county 911 excise tax account, the county 4
road administration board emergency loan account, the toll collection 5
account, the developmental disabilities endowment trust fund, the 6
energy account, the energy facility site evaluation council account, 7
the fair fund, the family and medical leave insurance account, the 8
Fern Lodge maintenance account, the fish and wildlife federal lands 9
revolving account, the natural resources federal lands revolving 10
account, the food animal veterinarian conditional scholarship 11
account, the forest health revolving account, the fruit and vegetable 12
inspection account, the educator conditional scholarship account, the 13
game farm alternative account, the GET ready for math and science 14
scholarship account, the Washington global health technologies and 15
product development account, the grain inspection revolving fund, the 16
Washington history day account, the industrial insurance rainy day 17
fund, the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' plan 2 expense 18
fund, the local tourism promotion account, the low-income home 19
rehabilitation account, the medication for people living with HIV 20
rebate revenue account, the homeowner recovery account, the 21
multiagency permitting team account, the northeast Washington wolf-22
livestock management account, the pollution liability insurance 23
program trust account, the public use general aviation airport loan 24
revolving account, the regional transportation investment district 25
account, the rural rehabilitation account, the Washington sexual 26
assault kit account, the stadium and exhibition center account, the 27
youth athletic facility account, the self-insurance revolving fund, 28
the children's trust fund, the Washington horse racing commission 29
Washington bred owners' bonus fund and breeder awards account, the 30
Washington horse racing commission class C purse fund account, the 31
individual development account program account, the Washington horse 32
racing commission operating account, the life sciences discovery 33
fund, the Washington state library-archives building account, the 34
reduced cigarette ignition propensity account, the center for deaf 35
and hard of hearing youth account, the school for the blind account, 36
the public employees' and retirees' insurance reserve fund, the 37
school employees' benefits board insurance reserve fund, the public 38
employees' and retirees' insurance account, the school employees' 39
insurance account, the long-term services and supports trust account, 40
p. 3 HB 2159
the radiation perpetual maintenance fund, the Indian health 1
improvement reinvestment account, the department of licensing tuition 2
recovery trust fund, the student achievement council tuition recovery 3
trust fund, the tuition recovery trust fund, the industrial insurance 4
premium refund account, the mobile home park relocation fund, the 5
natural resources deposit fund, the Washington state health insurance 6
pool account, the federal forest revolving account, the Washington 7
saves administrative trust account, and the library operations 8
account. 9
(c) The following accounts and funds must receive 80 percent of 10
their proportionate share of earnings based upon each account's or 11
fund's average daily balance for the period: The advance right-of-way 12
revolving fund, the advanced environmental mitigation revolving 13
account, the federal narcotics asset forfeitures account, the high 14
occupancy vehicle account, the local rail service assistance account, 15
and the miscellaneous transportation programs account.16
(d) Any state agency that has independent authority over accounts 17
or funds not statutorily required to be held in the custody of the 18
state treasurer that deposits funds into a fund or account in the 19
custody of the state treasurer pursuant to an agreement with the 20
office of the state treasurer shall receive its proportionate share 21
of earnings based upon each account's or fund's average daily balance 22
for the period. 23
(5) In conformance with Article II, section 37 of the state 24
Constitution, no trust accounts or funds shall be allocated earnings 25
without the specific affirmative directive of this section.26
Sec. 3. RCW 43.79A.040 and 2025 c 399 s 14 and 2025 c 190 s 4 27
are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:28
(1) Money in the treasurer's trust fund may be deposited, 29
invested, and reinvested by the state treasurer in accordance with 30
RCW 43.84.080 in the same manner and to the same extent as if the 31
money were in the state treasury, and may be commingled with moneys 32
in the state treasury for cash management and cash balance purposes.33
(2) All income received from investment of the treasurer's trust 34
fund must be set aside in an account in the treasury trust fund to be 35
known as the investment income account. 36
(3) The investment income account may be utilized for the payment 37
of purchased banking services on behalf of treasurer's trust funds 38
including, but not limited to, depository, safekeeping, and 39
p. 4 HB 2159
disbursement functions for the state treasurer or affected state 1
agencies. The investment income account is subject in all respects to 2
chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for payments to 3
financial institutions. Payments must occur prior to distribution of 4
earnings set forth in subsection (4) of this section.5
(4)(a) Monthly, the state treasurer must distribute the earnings 6
credited to the investment income account to the state general fund 7
except under (b), (c), and (d) of this subsection. 8
(b) The following accounts and funds must receive their 9
proportionate share of earnings based upon each account's or fund's 10
average daily balance for the period: The 24/7 sobriety account, the 11
Washington promise scholarship account, the Gina Grant Bull memorial 12
legislative page scholarship account, the Rosa Franklin legislative 13
internship program scholarship account, the Washington advanced 14
college tuition payment program account, the Washington college 15
savings program account, the preK promise account, the accessible 16
communities account, the Washington achieving a better life 17
experience program account, the Washington career and college 18
pathways innovation challenge program account, the community and 19
technical college innovation account, the agricultural local fund, 20
the American Indian scholarship endowment fund, the behavioral health 21
loan repayment and scholarship program account, the Billy Frank Jr. 22
national statuary hall collection fund, the foster care scholarship 23
endowment fund, the foster care endowed scholarship trust fund, the 24
contract harvesting revolving account, the Washington state combined 25
fund drive account, the county 911 excise tax account, the county 26
road administration board emergency loan account, the toll collection 27
account, the developmental disabilities endowment trust fund, the 28
energy account, the energy facility site evaluation council account, 29
the fair fund, the family and medical leave insurance account, the 30
Fern Lodge maintenance account, the fish and wildlife federal lands 31
revolving account, the natural resources federal lands revolving 32
account, the food animal veterinarian conditional scholarship 33
account, the forest health revolving account, the fruit and vegetable 34
inspection account, the educator conditional scholarship account, the 35
game farm alternative account, the GET ready for math and science 36
scholarship account, the Washington global health technologies and 37
product development account, the grain inspection revolving fund, the 38
Washington history day account, the industrial insurance rainy day 39
fund, the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' plan 2 expense 40
p. 5 HB 2159
fund, the local tourism promotion account, the low-income home 1
rehabilitation account, the medication for people living with HIV 2
rebate revenue account, the homeowner recovery account, the 3
multiagency permitting team account, the northeast Washington wolf-4
livestock management account, the public use general aviation airport 5
loan revolving account, the regional transportation investment 6
district account, the rural rehabilitation account, the Washington 7
sexual assault kit account, the stadium and exhibition center 8
account, the youth athletic facility account, the self-insurance 9
revolving fund, the children's trust fund, the Washington horse 10
racing commission Washington bred owners' bonus fund and breeder 11
awards account, the Washington horse racing commission class C purse 12
fund account, the individual development account program account, the 13
Washington horse racing commission operating account, the life 14
sciences discovery fund, the Washington state library-archives 15
building account, the reduced cigarette ignition propensity account, 16
the center for deaf and hard of hearing youth account, the school for 17
the blind account, the public employees' and retirees' insurance 18
reserve fund, the school employees' benefits board insurance reserve 19
fund, the public employees' and retirees' insurance account, the 20
school employees' insurance account, the long-term services and 21
supports trust account, the radiation perpetual maintenance fund, the 22
Indian health improvement reinvestment account, the department of 23
licensing tuition recovery trust fund, the student achievement 24
council tuition recovery trust fund, the tuition recovery trust fund, 25
the industrial insurance premium refund account, the mobile home park 26
relocation fund, the natural resources deposit fund, the Washington 27
state health insurance pool account, the federal forest revolving 28
account, the Washington saves administrative trust account, and the 29
library operations account. 30
(c) The following accounts and funds must receive 80 percent of 31
their proportionate share of earnings based upon each account's or 32
fund's average daily balance for the period: The advance right-of-way 33
revolving fund, the advanced environmental mitigation revolving 34
account, the federal narcotics asset forfeitures account, the high 35
occupancy vehicle account, the local rail service assistance account, 36
and the miscellaneous transportation programs account.37
(d) Any state agency that has independent authority over accounts 38
or funds not statutorily required to be held in the custody of the 39
state treasurer that deposits funds into a fund or account in the 40
p. 6 HB 2159
custody of the state treasurer pursuant to an agreement with the 1
office of the state treasurer shall receive its proportionate share 2
of earnings based upon each account's or fund's average daily balance 3
for the period. 4
(5) In conformance with Article II, section 37 of the state 5
Constitution, no trust accounts or funds shall be allocated earnings 6
without the specific affirmative directive of this section.7
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Sections 1 and 2 of this act are necessary 8
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or 9
safety, or support of the state government and its existing public 10
institutions, and take effect immediately.11
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Section 2 of this act expires July 1, 12
2030.13
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Section 3 of this act takes effect July 1, 14
2030.15
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