HB1868 – Restricting new gas outdoor lawn equipment and providing grants and tax breaks for electric alternatives.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Walen (D; 48th District; Kirkland)
Current status – Referred to the House Committee on Environment & Energy.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Summary –
The bill would require the Department of Ecology to adopt rules to prohibit engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from outdoor power equipment with less than 25 horsepower produced on or after January 1, 2026 (or as soon after that as was feasible). Equipment used by governments or their contractors for emergency management or emergency response and equipment for which a suitable zero emission alternative didn’t exist would be exempted.

The bill would create a six year sales and use tax exemption for zero emissions versions of the equipment, and encourage retailers to publicize that. It would add any programs, activities, or projects that reduce and mitigate impacts from greenhouse gases and pollutants on vulnerable populations  (including the bill’s outdoor power equipment grant program and transfers to the general fund to offset revenue losses from the tax preferences) to the list of what might be funded by revenue from the cap and invest program.

It would also create a grant program to replace the fossil fueled outdoor power equipment used by local governments with zero emission alternatives. This would be funded with $5 million a year from the cap and invest program for the next five years; Ecology would be required to prioritize grants that resulted in the greatest benefits to vulnerable populations or reduced the most hazardous or frequent occupational exposures caused by the existing equipment.