FINAL BILL REPORT

                   SB 6065

                          C 266 L 99

                      Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Providing an excise tax exemption for property owned, operated, or controlled by a public corporation.

Sponsors:  Senators Wojahn and Winsley.

Senate Committee on Ways & Means

House Committee on Finance

Background:  Public corporations, commissions, or authorities created by counties, cities, or towns receive the same immunity or exemption from taxation as the cities or towns which form them.  However, these entities must pay an excise tax on their real and personal property equal to the regular property taxes that would have been paid if the property were privately owned.

Exempt from the tax is:  (a) property within a special review district established before January 1, 1976, or property listed on a state or federal register of historic sites, or property which is within a special review district listed on such a register; and (b) property owned or operated by a public corporation that is used primarily for low-income housing or that is used as a convention center, performing arts center, public assembly hall, or public meeting place.

Proceeds from the excise tax are distributed to the taxing districts in which the property is situated in the same manner as property taxes.

Summary:  Exempt from the excise tax is property owned, operated, or controlled by a public corporation that:

$is used as a public esplanade, street, public way, public open space, park, public utility corridor, or view corridor for the general public; or

$is contaminated with hazardous substances and was acquired to implement a plan approved by the city or county to facilitate the remediation and redevelopment of the property.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate 48 0

House     95 0 (House amended)

Senate    46 0 (Senate concurred)

Effective:  July 25, 1999