S-2796.1  _______________________________________________

 

                         SENATE BILL 6187

          _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington      57th Legislature 2001 First Special Session

 

By Senators T. Sheldon, Honeyford, Hargrove and Rasmussen

 

Read first time 05/17/2001.  Referred to Committee on Economic Development & Telecommunications.

Expanding the definition of "public facilities" for purposes of the use of certain revenues in rural counties.


    AN ACT Relating to public facilities in rural counties; and amending RCW 82.14.370.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

    Sec. 1.  RCW 82.14.370 and 1999 c 311 s 101 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) The legislative authority of a rural county may impose a sales and use tax in accordance with the terms of this chapter.  The tax is in addition to other taxes authorized by law and shall be collected from those persons who are taxable by the state under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW upon the occurrence of any taxable event within the county.  The rate of tax shall not exceed 0.08 percent of the selling price in the case of a sales tax or value of the article used in the case of a use tax((, except that for rural counties with population densities between sixty and one hundred persons per square mile, the rate shall not exceed 0.04 percent before January 1, 2000)).  No tax may be collected under this section by a county more than twenty-five years after the date that a tax is first imposed under this section.

    (2) The tax imposed under subsection (1) of this section shall be deducted from the amount of tax otherwise required to be collected or paid over to the department of revenue under chapter 82.08 or 82.12 RCW.  The department of revenue shall perform the collection of such taxes on behalf of the county at no cost to the county.

    (3) Moneys collected under this section shall only be used for the purpose of private sector job creation or retention by financing the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, alteration, expansion, or improvements and related costs of public facilities in rural counties.  The public facility must be listed as an item in the officially adopted county overall economic development plan, or the economic development section of the county's comprehensive plan, or the comprehensive plan of a city or town located within the county for those counties planning under RCW 36.70A.040.  For those counties that do not have an adopted overall economic development plan and do not plan under the growth management act, the public facility must be listed in the county's capital facilities plan or the capital facilities plan of a city or town located within the county.  In implementing this section, the county shall consult with cities, towns, and port districts located within the county.  ((For the purposes of))

    (4) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section((,)).

    (a) "Public facilities" means bridges, roads, domestic and industrial water facilities, sanitary sewer facilities, earth stabilization, storm sewer facilities, railroad, electricity, natural gas, buildings, structures, telecommunications infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, or commercial infrastructure, and port facilities in the state of Washington.

    (((4) No tax may be collected under this section before July 1, 1998.  No tax may be collected under this section by a county more than twenty-five years after the date that a tax is first imposed under this section.

    (5) For purposes of this section,))

    (b) "Related costs" may include development of land and improvements for public facilities, project-specific environmental, capital facilities, land use, permitting, feasibility and marketing studies and plans, project design, site planning and analysis, and project debt and revenue impact analysis.

    (c) "Rural county" means a county with a population density of less than one hundred persons per square mile as determined by the office of financial management and published each year by the department for the period July 1st to June 30th.

    (5) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, moneys collected under this section may not be used for financing (a) electrical distribution or transmission facilities on property or premises that currently take electric service from an electric utility as defined in RCW 19.29A.010; (b) electric distribution or transmission facilities beyond the legal boundary of an undeveloped site; or (c) electric generation facilities that provide  electricity for use beyond the legal boundary of a development site.

    (6) No moneys collected under this section may be provided to an electric utility as defined in RCW 19.29A.010 for the purpose of funding a public facility for electricity generation, transmission, or distribution.

 


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