Have any buyers actually a real estate brokers commission in Washington?

[Ben Mardis]

for some reason I can't go back and edit the post title... 

Hi all,

I just met with a real estate broker and they let me know that in Washington the buyer is technically responsible for paying the buyers broker commission upon closing. He told me that he always gets the seller to pay though. 

Is this a Washington thing or am I not understanding correctly? I thought the seller and buyers broker split the commission.