Public media grants

AN ACT Relating to promoting and funding public media and digital 1
equity; adding new sections to chapter 43.330 RCW; adding a new 2
chapter to Title 82 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing 3
penalties. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature recognizes that every 6
Washingtonian should have access to trusted, noncommercial media that 7
informs, educates, and connects our communities. The legislature 8
further recognizes that media is a valuable commodity that 9
contributes to the vitality of the state and the cultural integrity 10
of the state's communities.11
The legislature finds that noncommercial media provides a 12
significant public benefit by providing information related to public 13
safety, emergency broadcasting, public service announcements, 14
community events, and educational partnerships. 15
The legislature also finds that increased funding for 16
noncommercial media's annual operations and projects will likely 17
increase revenue for rural economies and local businesses and create 18
opportunities to increase community connection and build a diverse 19
workforce. The legislature recognizes that different regions of the 20
state have different needs, and residents should have the autonomy to 21
H-3007.1
HOUSE BILL 2579
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Stearns, Berry, Reed, Parshley, Gregerson, Santos,
Mena, Goodman, Obras, Fosse, Peterson, Cortes, Pollet, and Nance
Read first time 01/20/26. Referred to Committee on Technology,
Economic Development, & Veterans.
p. 1 HB 2579
discern and craft strategies to meet their regional needs while 1
coordinating with each other and statewide. 2
The legislature also finds an urgent need to engage and educate 3
communities for coordination of existing resources, capacity 4
building, and establishing groundwork to support digital equity for 5
more coordinated emergency services, efficiencies, partnerships, 6
streamlined data collection, and group fund development that will 7
contribute to regional economic development in a manner that is 8
multilingual and culturally responsive. 9
Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to establish new 10
funding for public media and digital equity. 11
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 43.330 12
RCW to read as follows: 13
(1) The department shall establish a public media broadcaster 14
program to promote public media. The department shall award funds to 15
eligible entities on an annual basis, subject to the availability of 16
amounts appropriated for this specific purpose. The sole purpose of 17
the program is to ensure that every Washingtonian has access to 18
noncommercial media that informs, educates, and connects Washington 19
communities. 20
(2) The department must identify eligibility criteria for the 21
program. In establishing the criteria, the department shall 22
prioritize: 23
(a) Community, public radio, or television organizations based in 24
the state; 25
(b) Noncommercial, nonreligious, and not-for-profit 26
organizations; 27
(c) Broadcasters that do not include a paywall for core program 28
services; 29
(d) Organizations that have provided service in the state for a 30
minimum of seven years prior to the award; 31
(e) Organizations that adhere to professional editorial 32
standards; 33
(f) Organizations whose service includes public safety, emergency 34
broadcasting, public service announcements, access to the arts, 35
community event promotion, and not-for-profit partnerships;36
(g) Organizations that make music accessible to everyone, build 37
audiences for the arts by promoting events happening in the 38
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community, and provide a platform for artists to reach their audience 1
and build careers; 2
(h) Organizations whose service includes community activation, 3
free community events calendaring, educational impacts, partnership 4
with public schools as defined in RCW 28A.150.010, and services for 5
young adults after high school graduation, including but not limited 6
to mentoring, internships, or fellowships; 7
(i) Demonstrated economic impact; and 8
(j) Operations including public transparency and reporting, 9
including but not limited to annual service and impact reports or 10
audits. 11
(3) The department must identify criteria to prioritize awards 12
under the program. The criteria must include: 13
(a) Relative scale and community impact; 14
(b) That 85 percent of the funding awards must be provided to 15
broadcasters that have a budget in excess of $1,000,000. An entity 16
may receive an award of up to eight percent of its annual operating 17
expenses or $1,500,000, whichever is greater; 18
(c) That 15 percent of the funding awards must be provided to 19
broadcasters who have a budget of less than $1,000,000 and serve 20
rural or frontier counties or urban counties with a hyper-local 21
audience. These awards may be used for annual operations or projects, 22
and must be a minimum of $5,000 and no more than eight percent of the 23
broadcaster's annual operating expenses; and 24
(d) That all awards must be spent within the state.25
(4) Consistent with the department's authority under RCW 26
43.330.040, the department shall seek gifts, grants, and other 27
contributions from nonstate sources to carry out the purposes of this 28
section. 29
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 43.330 30
RCW to read as follows: 31
(1) The department shall establish a digital equity program to 32
create digital access and adoption resource coordinators, and 33
multimedia producer and trainer roles. The program shall award funds 34
to eligible entities on an annual basis, subject to the availability 35
of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose. The purpose of the 36
program is to ensure that every Washingtonian has resources to safely 37
and effectively access the internet and noncommercial media that 38
informs, educates, and connects Washington communities.39
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(2) For purposes of funding digital equity, the department must 1
identify eligibility criteria for the program. In establishing the 2
criteria, the department shall prioritize: 3
(a) Community anchor institutions such as a school, library, 4
health clinic, health center, hospital or other medical provider, 5
public safety entity, institution of higher education, public housing 6
organization, or community support organization that facilitate 7
greater use of broadband service by underserved populations;8
(b) Accountable communities of health, public access, education, 9
and government television stations; 10
(c) Workforce development councils, as defined in RCW 28C.18.010;11
(d) Washington State University extension offices; and12
(e) Operations including public transparency and reporting, 13
including but not limited to annual service and impact reports or 14
audits. 15
(3) The program must include digital access resource coordinators 16
who will work with coalitions, networks, and broadband action teams 17
that provide online skill building to create safe ways to engage and 18
educate communities about artificial intelligence and online safety.19
(4) The coordinators must: 20
(a) Coordinate content for a central resource database;21
(b) Coordinate and build referral networks; 22
(c) Produce virtual, in-person events, and community connection 23
time to build the groundwork for collaboration and database updating;24
(d) Coordinate and share strategies with broadband action teams 25
that focus on network infrastructure and workforce development;26
(e) Provide information that is multilingual, culturally 27
responsive, and responsive to the regional community needs; and28
(f) Notify the community about grant and funding opportunities.29
(5) The program must include multimedia producers and trainers 30
who will increase capacity and support existing community and 31
government media and stations with technical expertise and training.32
(6) The producers and trainers must: 33
(a) Coordinate with community and government media and stations 34
on eligible content; 35
(b) Identify apprenticeship opportunities; 36
(c) Provide training; and 37
(d) Identify opportunities for creative economy and small 38
business intersections. 39
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(7) The program must provide space for trainings, computer labs, 1
studios, pods, booths, and mobile recording and broadcast equipment.2
(8) Consistent with the department's authority under RCW 3
43.330.040, the department shall seek gifts, grants, and other 4
contributions from nonstate sources to carry out the purposes of this 5
section. 6
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1)(a) A public media broadcaster and 7
digital equity tax in the amount of 20 cents per month is imposed on 8
the use of all radio access lines by subscribers whose place of 9
primary use is located within the state and by consumers whose retail 10
transactions occur within the state.11
(b) The tax imposed under this subsection (1) must be remitted to 12
the department by radio communications service companies, including 13
those companies that resell radio access lines, and sellers of 14
prepaid wireless telecommunications service, on a tax return provided 15
by the department. 16
(c) For the purposes of this subsection (1), the retail 17
transaction occurs at the location where the transaction is sourced 18
under RCW 82.32.520(3)(c). 19
(2) A public media broadcaster and digital equity tax in the 20
amount of 20 cents per month is imposed on all interconnected voice 21
over internet protocol service lines in the state. The amount of tax 22
must be uniform for each line and must be levied on no more than the 23
number of voice over internet protocol service lines on an account 24
that is capable of simultaneous unrestricted outward calling to the 25
public switched telephone network. The tax imposed under this 26
subsection (2) must be remitted to the department by interconnected 27
voice over internet protocol service companies on a tax return 28
provided by the department. 29
(3) A public media broadcaster and digital equity tax in the 30
amount of 20 cents per month is imposed on all switched access lines 31
in the state. The amount of tax must be uniform for each line and 32
must be levied on no more than the number of switched access lines on 33
an account that is capable of simultaneous unrestricted outward 34
calling to the public switched telephone network. The tax imposed 35
under this subsection (3) must be remitted to the department by local 36
exchange companies on a tax return provided by the department.37
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(4) Tax proceeds collected pursuant to this section must be 1
deposited by the treasurer into the public media broadcaster and 2
digital equity account created in section 7 of this act.3
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) Except as provided otherwise in 4
subsection (2) of this section:5
(a) The public media broadcaster and digital equity tax on radio 6
access lines must be collected from the subscriber by the radio 7
communications service company, including those companies that resell 8
radio access lines, providing the radio access line to the 9
subscriber, and the seller of prepaid wireless telecommunications 10
services. 11
(b) The public media broadcaster and digital equity tax on 12
interconnected voice over internet protocol service lines must be 13
collected from the subscriber by the interconnected voice over 14
internet protocol service company providing the interconnected voice 15
over internet protocol service line to the subscriber.16
(c) The public media broadcaster and digital equity tax on 17
switched access lines must be collected from the subscriber by the 18
local exchange company. 19
(d) The amount of the tax must be stated separately on the 20
billing statement that is sent to the subscriber. 21
(2)(a) The public media broadcaster and digital equity tax 22
imposed by this chapter must be collected from the consumer by the 23
seller of a prepaid wireless telecommunications service for each 24
retail transaction occurring in this state. 25
(b) The department must transfer all tax proceeds remitted by a 26
seller under this subsection (2) to the public media broadcaster and 27
digital equity account created in section 7 of this act.28
(c) The taxes required by this subsection (2) to be collected by 29
the seller must be separately stated in any sales invoice or 30
instrument of sale provided to the consumer. 31
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1)(a) The public media broadcaster and 32
digital equity tax imposed by this chapter must be paid by the 33
subscriber to the radio communications service company providing the 34
radio access line, the local exchange company, or the interconnected 35
voice over internet protocol service company providing the 36
interconnected voice over internet protocol service line.37
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(b) Each radio communications service company, local exchange 1
company, and interconnected voice over internet protocol service 2
company must collect from the subscriber the full amount of the taxes 3
payable. The public media broadcaster and digital equity tax required 4
by this chapter to be collected by a company or seller must be held 5
in trust by the company or seller until paid to the department. Any 6
radio communications service company, local exchange company, or 7
interconnected voice over internet protocol service company that 8
appropriates or converts the tax collected to its own use or to any 9
use other than the payment of the tax to the extent that the money 10
collected is not available for payment on the due date as prescribed 11
in this chapter is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. 12
(2) If any radio communications service company, local exchange 13
company, or interconnected voice over internet protocol service 14
company fails to collect the public media broadcaster and digital 15
equity tax or, after collecting the tax, fails to pay it to the 16
department in the manner prescribed by this chapter, whether such 17
failure is the result of its own act or the result of acts or 18
conditions beyond its control, the company or seller is personally 19
liable to the state for the amount of the tax, unless the company or 20
seller has taken from the buyer in good faith documentation, in a 21
form and manner prescribed by the department, stating that the buyer 22
is not a subscriber or consumer or is otherwise not liable for the 23
public media broadcaster and digital equity tax. 24
(3) The amount of tax, until paid by the subscriber to the radio 25
communications service company, local exchange company, 26
interconnected voice over internet protocol service company, or the 27
department, constitutes a debt from the subscriber to the company, or 28
from the consumer to the seller. Any company or seller that fails or 29
refuses to collect the tax as required with intent to violate the 30
provisions of this chapter or to gain some advantage or benefit, 31
either direct or indirect, and any subscriber or consumer who refuses 32
to pay any tax due under this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor. The 33
public media broadcaster and digital equity tax required by this 34
chapter to be collected by the radio communications service company, 35
local exchange company, or interconnected voice over internet 36
protocol service company must be stated separately on the billing 37
statement that is sent to the subscriber. 38
(4) If a subscriber has failed to pay to the radio communications 39
service company, local exchange company, or interconnected voice over 40
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internet protocol service company the public media broadcaster and 1
digital equity tax imposed by this chapter and the company or seller 2
has not paid the amount of the tax to the department, the department 3
may, in its discretion, proceed directly against the subscriber or 4
consumer for collection of the tax, in which case a penalty of 10 5
percent may be added to the amount of the tax for failure of the 6
subscriber or consumer to pay the tax to the company or seller, 7
regardless of when the tax is collected by the department.8
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. (1) The public media broadcaster and 9
digital equity account is created in the state treasury. All receipts 10
from the tax imposed pursuant to this chapter must be deposited into 11
the account. Moneys may only be spent after appropriation.12
(2) The department may retain up to three percent of available 13
funds for evaluation and administration of the public media 14
broadcaster and digital equity programs created under sections 2 and 15
3 of this act. 16
(3) The remaining funds must be distributed as follows:17
(a) 80 percent must be used to fund grants under the public media 18
broadcaster program established under section 2 of this act; and19
(b) 20 percent must be used to fund grants under the digital 20
equity program established under section 3 of this act.21
(4) Moneys in the account may not be used to supplant general 22
fund appropriations for public media and digital equity.23
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A city or county may not impose a tax, 24
measured on a per line basis, on radio access lines, interconnected 25
voice over internet protocol service lines, or switched access lines, 26
for the purpose of funding public media and digital equity.27
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. The definitions in RCW 82.14B.020 apply 28
throughout this chapter.29
NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. Sections 4 through 9 of this act 30
constitute a new chapter in Title 82 RCW.31
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