"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) By December 1, 2025, the department of commerce, in consultation with the department of ecology, must contract for an independent third-party assessment of the impacts on consumer good prices from the establishment of an extended producer responsibility program for packaging and paper products. The assessment must evaluate the price impacts of an extended producer responsibility program as structured in part one of Second Substitute House Bill No. 2049 of 2024, as recommended by the appropriations committee of the house of representatives. The assessment must estimate the impacts on consumer good prices in aggregate across covered products and, if feasible, by category of packaging or covered product, and must estimate cost impacts as a percentage of the average price of consumer goods, as an aggregated cost total, and as a percentage of the state's gross domestic product.
(2) The assessment must be submitted to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2025."