Background: In 2007, legislation was enacted enabling a city, town, or county to establish a Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) to promote bioscience-based economic development and advance new therapies and procedures to combat disease and promote public health.

The Washington State Student Achievement Council (Council) is responsible for approving or rejecting applications submitted by local governments for an area's designation as an HSSA. Applications to establish an HSSA were due by December 31, 2010.

By statute, only two HSSAs are authorized. An HSSA is required to be located in a county with a population under 1 million persons and located east of the crest of the Cascade Mountains.

A local jurisdiction creating an HSSA may:

until January 1, 2023, impose a sales and use tax credited against the state sales and use tax—the tax may be imposed only by HSSAs created prior to January 1, 2010; and
incur general indebtedness and issue general obligation bonds to finance grants and other programs and to retire the indebtedness.

An HSSA is overseen by a board of up to 14 members, and has all the general powers necessary to carry out its purposes, including hiring staff and contracting with technical experts, leveraging the HSSA's public funds with monies received from other public and private sources, and making grants to entities to promote bioscience-based economic development.

The Spokane County HSSA, was approved in 2008 and is the only jurisdiction imposing the local sales and use tax. The sales and use tax distributions to the Spokane County HSSA were about $1.9 million for calendar year 2016. Yakima County recently adopted an ordinance creating an HSSA, but is not currently allowed under state law to impose the HSSA sales and use tax.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate	48	0
House	98	0