H-506                _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1159

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Representatives Fuhrman, Dobbs, B. Williams and L. Smith

Read first time 2/8/85 and referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

AN ACT Relating to property taxation; and amending RCW 84.36.020.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 84.36.020, chapter 15, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 12, chapter 291, Laws of 1975 1st ex. sess. and RCW 84.36.020 are each amended to read as follows:

          The following property shall be exempt from taxation:

          All lands, and buildings required for necessary administration and maintenance, used, or to the extent used, exclusively for public burying grounds or cemeteries without discrimination as to race, color, national origin or ancestry;

          All churches and the ground((, not exceeding five acres in area,)) upon which a church of any nonprofit recognized religious denomination is or shall be built, together with a parsonage, convent, and buildings and improvements required for the maintenance and safeguarding of such property.  The area exempted shall in any case include all ground covered by the church, parsonage, convent, and buildings and improvements required for the maintenance and safeguarding of such property and the structures and ground necessary for street access, parking, light, and ventilation, ((but)) and the area of unoccupied ground ((exempted in such cases,)) in connection with church, parsonage, convent, and buildings and improvements required for the maintenance and safeguarding of such property((, shall not exceed the equivalent of one hundred twenty by one hundred twenty feet except where additional unoccupied land may be required to conform with state or local codes, zoning, or licensing requirements.  The parsonage and convent)).  Such structures, buildings, and improvements need not be on land contiguous to ((the church property)) each other.  To be exempt the property must be wholly used for church purposes:  PROVIDED, That the loan or rental of property otherwise exempt under this paragraph to a nonprofit organization, association, or corporation, or school for use for an eleemosynary activity shall not nullify the exemption provided in this paragraph if the rental income, if any, is reasonable and is devoted solely to the operation and maintenance of the property.