SB 5526 — Studying the global availability of lithium and rare earth minerals for battery manufacturing.

S-4063.4S-3199.1 SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5526 State of Washington 67th Legislature 2022 Regular Session By Senate Business, Financial Services & Trade (originally sponsored by Senators Fortunato, Padden, and J.

Wilson)Wilson READPrefiled FIRST12/09/21. TIME 02/02/22.

ANRead ACTfirst Relatingtime to01/10/22. the global availability of lithium and critical materials for battery manufacturing;

Referred to Committee on Business, Financial Services & Trade.

AN ACT Relating to studying the global availability of lithium and rare earth minerals for battery manufacturing;

(1) The legislature finds that while the state is increasingly encouraging new energy storage technologies such as electric vehicles and electric grid scale battery storage, these technologies are dependent on criticalrare materialsearth minerals and difficult-difficult-to-source to-source earth components.

TheThus, legislatureby furtherDecember finds31, that2023, the increasingdepartment popularity of electriccommerce vehiclesshall hassubmit created a needreport forto athe smartlegislature end-of-lifeexamining processthe forglobal batteriesavailability usedof inlithium electricand vehiclesrare toearth protectminerals Washingtonused statein residents.battery manufacturing.

ItThe isdepartment theof intentcommerce ofmay consult the legislaturePacific forNorthwest Washingtonnational statelaboratory toand becomethe ajoint worldwidecenter leaderfor the deployment and research in electricearth vehicleabundant batterymaterials recyclingto andprepare stewardship.the report.

(2)(a)(2) SubjectThe tolegislature theintends availabilityto ofappropriate amountssufficient appropriatedmoneys forto thiscarry specificout purpose, the departmentpurposes of commercethis shall:act.

(i) Conduct a literature review of the global availability of lithium, critical materials, and other materials used in electric vehicle batteries;

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1 SSB 5526 (ii) Research successful approaches and methods used in other states and countries and by private companies to develop infrastructure for recycling batteries used in electric vehicles.

Methods may include incentives for manufacturers to extract critical materials from electric vehicle batteries for reuse, as well as requirements for designing electric vehicle batteries for recycling;

and (iii) Collaborate with the department of ecology on drafting legislation to establish a statewide recycling program for batteries used in electric vehicles.

(b) The department of commerce may consult with the department of ecology, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the joint center for the deployment and research in earth abundant materials to prepare these materials.

(c) The department of commerce must submit a report to the legislature by June 30, 2023, in compliance with RCW 43.01.036.

At a minimum, the report must summarize the literature review and successful approaches and methods research and provide draft legislation as required by (a) of this subsection.

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