Property title protection

AN ACT Relating to authorizing county auditors to create a 1
voluntary property title protection program to prevent land record 2
fraud; amending RCW 65.04.030, 36.22.185, and 36.22.240; reenacting 3
and amending RCW 36.22.250; adding a new section to chapter 36.22 4
RCW; and declaring an emergency. 5
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:6
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 36.22 7
RCW to read as follows: 8
(1)(a) Each county auditor is authorized to develop and implement 9
a voluntary property title protection program to prevent land record 10
fraud. A county auditor may coordinate with the county treasurer or 11
excise agent in developing the program. 12
(b) A voluntary property title protection program may give 13
property owners the option to record with the county auditor a 14
property fraud protection instrument in order to prohibit the 15
recording of any transfer of ownership of that property without the 16
use of a secure personal identification number, an approved override 17
process, or until a release of fraud protection instrument for the 18
same property is recorded. The program must allow for an emergency 19
override process through verified court orders or authorized legal 20
representative actions. 21
H-2745.1
HOUSE BILL 2298
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Parshley, Berry, Taylor, Ryu, Reed, Mena, Cortes,
Zahn, Bronoske, Duerr, Doglio, Berg, Reeves, Fosse, and Hill
Prefiled 01/07/26. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Local Government.
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(2) If a county auditor receives any instrument transferring 1
ownership of real property for which a fraud protection instrument 2
has been recorded, the auditor may delay the recording of such 3
instrument or entering of such instrument on the transfer record for 4
up to five business days. 5
Sec. 2. RCW 65.04.030 and 1996 c 229 s 2 are each amended to 6
read as follows: 7
The auditor or recording officer must, upon the payment of the 8
fees as required in RCW 36.18.010 for the same, acknowledge receipt 9
therefor in writing or printed form and record in large and well 10
bound books, or by photographic, photomechanical, electronic format, 11
or other approved process, the following: 12
(1) Deeds, grants and transfers of real property, mortgages and 13
releases of mortgages of real estate, instruments or agreements 14
relating to community or separate property, powers of attorney to 15
convey real estate, and leases which have been acknowledged or 16
proved: PROVIDED, That deeds, contracts and mortgages of real estate 17
described by lot and block and addition or plat, shall not be filed 18
or recorded until the plat of such addition has been filed and made a 19
matter of record: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That the auditor or recording 20
officer may delay recording an instrument conveying real property as 21
provided in section 1 of this act; 22
(2) Patents to lands and receivers' receipts, whether for 23
mineral, timber, homestead or preemption claims or cash entries;24
(3) All such other papers or writing as are required by law to be 25
recorded and such as are required by law to be filed.26
Sec. 3. RCW 36.22.185 and 2025 c 100 s 1 are each amended to 27
read as follows: 28
(1) Beginning January 1, 2024, except as provided in subsection 29
(2) of this section, the county auditor must collect a covenant 30
homeownership program assessment of $100 for each document recorded, 31
which is in addition to any other charge, surcharge, or assessment 32
allowed by law. The county auditor may retain up to one percent of 33
the moneys for collection of the assessment and must remit the 34
remainder of the moneys to the state treasurer to be deposited in the 35
covenant homeownership account created in RCW 43.181.020.36
(2) The assessment imposed in this section does not apply to: (a) 37
Documents recording a birth, marriage, divorce, or death; (b) any 38
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recorded documents otherwise exempted from a recording fee or 1
additional assessments under state law; (c) marriage licenses issued 2
by the county auditor; (d) documents recording a name change order 3
under RCW 4.24.130; ((or)) (e) documents recording a federal, state, 4
county, city, or water-sewer district, or wage lien or satisfaction 5
of lien ; or (f) fraud protection instruments and release of fraud 6
protection instruments recorded as part of the voluntary property 7
title protection program pursuant to section 1 of this act.8
Sec. 4. RCW 36.22.240 and 2021 c 214 s 10 are each amended to 9
read as follows: 10
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a 11
surcharge of two dollars and fifty cents shall be charged by the 12
county auditor for each document recorded, which will be in addition 13
to any other charge or surcharge allowed by law. The auditor shall 14
remit the funds to the state treasurer to be deposited and used as 15
follows: 16
(a) Through June 30, 2024, funds must be deposited into the 17
growth management planning and environmental review fund created in 18
RCW 36.70A.490 to be used first for grants for costs associated with 19
RCW 36.70A.600 and for costs associated with RCW 36.70A.610, and 20
thereafter for any allowable use of the fund. 21
(b) Beginning July 1, 2024, sufficient funds must be deposited 22
into the growth management planning and environmental review fund 23
created in RCW 36.70A.490 for costs associated with RCW 36.70A.610, 24
and the remainder deposited into the home security fund account 25
created in RCW 43.185C.060 to be used for maintenance and operation 26
costs of: (i) Permanent supportive housing and (ii) affordable 27
housing for very low-income and extremely low-income households. 28
Funds may only be expended in cities that have taken action under RCW 29
36.70A.600. 30
(2) The surcharge imposed in this section does not apply to: (a) 31
Assignments or substitutions of previously recorded deeds of trust; 32
(b) documents recording a birth, marriage, divorce, or death; (c) any 33
recorded documents otherwise exempted from a recording fee or 34
additional surcharges under state law; (d) marriage licenses issued 35
by the county auditor; ((or)) (e) documents recording a federal, 36
state, county, city, or water-sewer district, or wage lien or 37
satisfaction of lien; or (f) fraud protection instruments and release 38
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of fraud protection instruments recorded as part of the voluntary 1
property title protection program pursuant to section 1 of this act.2
(3) For purposes of this section, the terms "permanent supportive 3
housing," "affordable housing," "very low-income households," and 4
"extremely low-income households" have the same meaning as provided 5
in RCW 36.70A.030. 6
Sec. 5. RCW 36.22.250 and 2025 c 408 s 3, 2025 c 100 s 2, and 7
2025 c 74 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:8
(1) A surcharge of $183 per instrument shall be charged by the 9
county auditor for each document recorded, which will be in addition 10
to any other charge authorized by law. The following are exempt from 11
this surcharge: 12
(a) Documents recording a birth, marriage, divorce, or death;13
(b) Any recorded documents otherwise exempted from a recording 14
fee or additional surcharges under state law; 15
(c) Marriage licenses issued by the county auditor; ((and))16
(d) Documents recording a federal, state, county, city, or water-17
sewer district, or wage lien or satisfaction of lien; and18
(e) Fraud protection instruments and release of fraud protection 19
instruments recorded as part of the voluntary property title 20
protection program pursuant to section 1 of this act.21
(2) Funds collected pursuant to this section must be distributed 22
and used as follows: 23
(a) One percent of the total funds collected shall be retained by 24
the county auditor for its fee collection activities;25
(b) 30 percent of the total funds collected shall be retained by 26
the county and used by the county as provided in subsection (3) of 27
this section; 28
(c) 54.1 percent of the total funds collected shall be 29
transmitted to the state treasurer to be deposited in the home 30
security fund account created in RCW 43.185C.060 and shall be used by 31
the department of commerce as provided in subsection (4) of this 32
section; 33
(d) 13.1 percent of the total funds collected shall be 34
transmitted to the state treasurer to be deposited in the affordable 35
housing for all account created in RCW 43.185C.190 and shall be used 36
by the department of commerce as provided in subsection (5) of this 37
section; 38
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(e) 1.8 percent of the total funds collected shall be transmitted 1
to the state treasurer to be deposited in the landlord mitigation 2
program account created in RCW 43.31.615 and shall be used by the 3
department of commerce as provided in subsection (6) of this section.4
(3) The county shall use their portion of the collected funds as 5
follows: 6
(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, up to 10 7
percent for the county's administration and local distribution of the 8
funds collected from the surcharge in this section, and 9
administrative costs related to the county's homeless housing plan;10
(b)(i) At least 75 percent will be retained and used by the 11
county to accomplish the purposes of its local homeless housing plan 12
pursuant to chapter 484, Laws of 2005, unless a city in the county 13
elects, as authorized in RCW 43.185C.080, to operate its own local 14
homeless housing program. 15
(ii) If a city in the county elects, as authorized in RCW 16
43.185C.080, to operate its own local homeless housing program, the 17
10 percent for administrative costs retained under (a) of this 18
subsection and the 75 percent for local homeless housing plans 19
retained under (b) of this subsection must be combined and 20
distributed as follows: For each city in the county that elects as 21
authorized in RCW 43.185C.080 to operate its own local homeless 22
housing program, a percentage of the surcharge assessed under this 23
subsection equal to the percentage of the city's local portion of the 24
real estate excise tax collected by the county shall be transmitted 25
at least quarterly to the city treasurer, without any deduction for 26
county administrative costs, for use by the city for program costs 27
which directly contribute to the goals of the city's local homeless 28
housing plan. Each county or city receiving funds under this 29
subsection (3) may use up to 10 percent of their share of the total 30
funding retained or received under this subsection (3) after the 31
completion of the required city distributions for costs related to:32
(A) The county's administration and local distribution of the 33
funds collected from the surcharge in this section;34
(B) Administrative costs related to the county's homeless housing 35
plan; and 36
(C) Administrative costs related to the city's homeless housing 37
program; 38
(c) At least 15 percent will be retained and used by the county 39
for eligible housing activities, as described in this subsection, 40
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that serve extremely low and very low-income households in the county 1
and the cities within a county according to an interlocal agreement 2
between the county and the cities within the county consistent with 3
countywide and local housing needs and policies. A priority must be 4
given to eligible housing activities that serve extremely low-income 5
households with incomes at or below 30 percent of the area median 6
income. Eligible housing activities to be funded are limited to:7
(i) Acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing 8
projects or units within housing projects that are affordable to very 9
low-income households with incomes at or below 50 percent of the area 10
median income, including units for homeownership, rental units, 11
seasonal and permanent farmworker housing units, units reserved for 12
victims of human trafficking and their families, and single room 13
occupancy units; 14
(ii) Supporting building operation and maintenance costs of 15
housing projects or units within housing projects eligible to receive 16
housing trust funds, that are affordable to very low-income 17
households with incomes at or below 50 percent of the area median 18
income, and that require a supplement to rent income to cover ongoing 19
operating expenses; 20
(iii) Rental assistance vouchers for housing units that are 21
affordable to very low-income households with incomes at or below 50 22
percent of the area median income, including rental housing vouchers 23
for victims of human trafficking and their families, to be 24
administered by a local public housing authority or other local 25
organization that has an existing rental assistance voucher program, 26
consistent with or similar to the United States department of housing 27
and urban development's section 8 rental assistance voucher program 28
standards; and 29
(iv) Operating costs for emergency shelters and licensed 30
overnight youth shelters. 31
(4) The department of commerce shall use the funds from the 32
document recording fee or other fund sources deposited in the home 33
security fund account as follows, except that the department of 34
commerce shall provide counties with the right of first refusal to 35
receive grant funds distributed under (b) of this subsection (4). If 36
a county refuses the funds or does not respond within a time frame 37
established by the department, the department shall make good faith 38
efforts to identify one or more suitable alternative grantees 39
operating within that county. The alternative grantee shall 40
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distribute the funds in a manner that is in compliance with this 1
chapter. Funding provided through the office of homeless youth 2
prevention and protection programs created in RCW 43.330.705 is 3
exempt from the county first refusal requirement. 4
(a) Up to 10 percent for administration of the programs 5
established in chapter 43.185C RCW and in conformance with this 6
subsection (4), including the costs of creating and implementing 7
strategic plans, collecting and evaluating data, measuring and 8
reporting performance, providing technical assistance to local 9
governments, providing training to entities delivering services, and 10
developing and maintaining stakeholder relationships;11
(b) At least 90 percent for homelessness assistance grant 12
programs administered by the department, including but not limited 13
to: Temporary rental assistance; eviction prevention rental 14
assistance per RCW 43.185C.185; emergency shelter and transitional 15
housing operations and maintenance; outreach; diversion; HOPE and 16
crisis residential centers; young adult housing; homeless services 17
and case management for adult, family, youth, and young adult 18
homeless populations and those at risk of homelessness; project-based 19
vouchers for nonprofit housing providers or public housing 20
authorities; tenant-based rent assistance; housing services; direct 21
cash assistance as provided for in RCW 43.185C.220(5)(a); rapid 22
rehousing; emergency housing; acquisition; operations; maintenance; 23
and service costs for permanent supportive housing as defined in RCW 24
36.70A.030 for individuals with disabilities. Grantees may also use 25
these funds in partnership with permanent supportive housing programs 26
administered by the office of apple health and homes created in RCW 27
43.330.181. Priority for use must be given to purposes intended to 28
house persons who are chronically homeless or to maintain housing for 29
individuals with disabilities and prior experiences of homelessness, 30
including families with children. 31
(5) The department of commerce shall use the funds from the 32
document recording fee or other fund sources deposited in the 33
affordable housing for all account as follows: 34
(a) Up to 10 percent for program administration and technical 35
assistance necessary for the delivery programs and activities under 36
this subsection (5); 37
(b) At least 90 percent for the following: 38
(i) Grants for building operation and maintenance costs of 39
housing projects, or units within housing projects, that are in the 40
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state's housing trust fund portfolio, are affordable to extremely 1
low-income households with incomes at or below 30 percent of the area 2
median income, and require a supplement to rent income to cover 3
ongoing operating expenses; 4
(ii) Grants to support the building operations, maintenance, and 5
supportive service costs for permanent supportive housing projects, 6
or units within housing projects, that have received or will receive 7
funding from the housing trust fund or other public capital funding 8
programs. The supported projects or units must be dedicated as 9
permanent supportive housing as defined in RCW 36.70A.030, be 10
occupied by extremely low-income households with incomes at or below 11
30 percent of the area median income, and require a supplement to 12
rent income to cover ongoing property operations, maintenance, and 13
supportive services expenses. 14
(6) The department of commerce shall use the funds from the 15
document recording fee or other fund sources deposited in the 16
landlord mitigation program account to administer the landlord 17
mitigation program as established in RCW 43.31.605. The department of 18
commerce may use up to 10 percent of these funds for program 19
administration and the development and maintenance of a database 20
necessary to administer the program. 21
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This act is necessary for the immediate 22
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of 23
the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes 24
effect immediately.25
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