S-4224.1

SENATE BILL 6556


State of Washington	65th Legislature	2018 Regular Session

By Senators Hobbs and Palumbo

Read first time 01/25/18. Referred to Committee on Transportation.

AN ACT Relating to the pilot transit pass incentive program; adding a new section to chapter 47.01 RCW; creating a new section; and making an appropriation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature recognizes the importance of offering streamlined options for reducing private sector costs related to commute trip reduction goals, and of the state partnering with the private sector to share increased transit use costs.

(1) The department shall administer the pilot transit pass incentive program. Businesses located in a county adjacent to Puget Sound with a population of more than seven hundred thousand are eligible to apply to the program for a fifty percent rebate on the cost of employee transit passes, such as the ORCA card. No single business may receive more than twenty thousand dollars from the program. Employers applying for the commute trip reduction tax credit provided in chapter 82.70 RCW for transit passes purchased in 2018 or 2019 are not eligible for the pilot transit pass incentive program.

(2) Businesses may apply and be awarded funds prior to purchasing transit passes but the department may not reimburse a business until proof of purchase or contract has been provided to the department.

(3) The department shall report to the transportation committees of the legislature on the impact of the program by September 1, 2019, and may adopt rules to administer the program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The sum of one million dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal biennium ending June 30, 2019, from the multimodal transportation account to the department of transportation and is provided solely for the purposes of administering the pilot transit pass incentive program established in section 2 of this act.