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                                         SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 6548

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                                                                            C 084 L 88

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Economic Development & Labor (originally sponsored by Senators Lee, Warnke, Smitherman, Rasmussen and Fleming; by request of Employment Security Department)

Read first time 1/27/88.

AN ACT Relating to assistance to employers receiving a federal tax credit; adding a new section to chapter 50.16 RCW; creating new sections; making an appropriation; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature finds that:

          (1) The employment security department through the targeted jobs tax credit program has the responsibility to issue federal tax credit certifications to Washington state employers.  The tax credit certification allows the employer to claim a credit against federal income tax for wages paid during the first year to employees who qualify for the program.

          (2) To the extent that funding is available, the department, through the federal targeted jobs tax credit program, provides service to employers in the form of technical assistance and training, program marketing, monitoring, and maintenance of records and processing of documents that may result in a certification which allows employers to claim a federal tax credit.

          (3) The United States Congress through the Tax Reform Act of 1986 reauthorized the targeted jobs tax credit but did not include funds to cover the costs of processing employer requests for federal tax credit certifications.

          (4) The state has a vital interest in the economic benefits employers realize from the targeted jobs tax credit because the economic competitiveness of Washington state is enhanced as tax credit savings are reinvested in the state's economy.

          (5) The departments of corrections, social and health services, and veterans affairs, and the superintendent of public instruction, along with employment security and other state service providers, utilize the targeted jobs tax credit program as an incentive for employers to hire hard-to-place clients.

          (6) Economically disadvantaged youth, Vietnam-era veterans, ex-felons, and vocational rehabilitation, supplemental security income, general assistance and AFDC recipients have an especially difficult time in obtaining employment.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 50.16 RCW to read as follows:

          The cost of administering the federal targeted jobs tax credit program shall be fully borne by the employers requesting the credits.  The commissioner shall establish the amount of the processing fee and procedures for collecting the fee.  The commissioner shall establish the processing fee at a sufficient level to defray the costs of administering the federal targeted jobs tax credit program.  The fee shall be established by the commissioner by rule.  However, if federal funding is provided to finance such services, the commissioner shall revise or eliminate this fee based on the amount of federal funding received.  Fees received for processing shall be deposited in a special account in the unemployment compensation administration fund.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     If any part of this act shall be found to be in conflict with federal requirements which are a prescribed condition to the allocation of federal funds to the state, such conflicting part of this act is hereby declared to be inoperative solely to the extent of such conflict, and such finding or determination shall not affect the operation of the remainder of this act.  The rules under this act shall meet federal requirements which are a necessary condition to the receipt of federal funds by the state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     There is appropriated from the unemployment compensation administration fund to the employment security department for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, the sum of one million seven hundred six thousand eighty-nine dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for administration by the state of the targeted jobs tax credit program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6.     This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect March 1, 1988.

                                                                                                                      Passed the Senate February 15, 1988.

                                                                                                                                       President of the Senate.

                                                                                                                           Passed the House March 6, 1988.

                                                                                                                                         Speaker of the House.