HOUSE BILL REPORT

                      HB 1496

                     As Reported By House Committee on:

                                  Revenue

Title:  An act relating to the license fees of real estate brokers, real estate salespersons, and professional engineers.

Brief Description:  Changing the disposition of professional license fees.

Sponsor(s):  Representatives O'Brien, Holland, Morris, Brumsickle, Leonard and Vance.

Brief History:

   Reported by House Committee on:

Revenue, February 26, 1991, DPS.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON

REVENUE

Majority Report: That Substitute House Bill No. 1496 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.  Signed by 15 members:  Representatives Wang, Chair; Fraser, Vice Chair; Holland, Ranking Minority Member; Wynne, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Appelwick; Belcher; Brumsickle; Day; Leonard; Morris; Morton; Phillips; Rust; Silver; and Van Luven.

Staff:  Robin Appleford (786-7093).

Background:  The Department of Licensing (DOL) collects a variety of fees related to the licensing of occupations.  The majority are deposited in the General Fund-State (GFS).  However, some fees are split between the GFS and other accounts. Of each license fee on real estate brokers and salespersons, and professional engineers, 20 percent is deposited in the GFS.  The remainder of the real estate fee is deposited in the real estate commission account, while the remainder of the professional engineer license fee is deposited in the professional engineers' account.  In addition, 100 percent of the interest earnings on the real estate commission account and the professional engineers' account are deposited in the GFS.

Summary of Substitute Bill:  All real estate and professional engineer license fees are deposited in their respective accounts. 

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:  The reference to the disposition of interest earnings from the professional engineers' account is deleted.  The effective date is changed from 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is enacted to July 1, 1993.

Fiscal Note:  Available.

Effective Date of Substitute Bill:  July 1, 1993.

Testimony For:  The bill would remove an inequity in the way architects' and engineers' fees are treated.  The fees should be used for education programs and regulation of the professions from which they are collected, and not for general fund purposes. 

Testimony Against:  None.

Witnesses:  Representative John L. O'Brien; Joe Daniels, Professional and Technical Engineers (Local 17); Cliff Webster, Architects & Engineers Legislative Council; Jon Warren, Dodds Engineers, Inc.; Glen Hudson, Washington Realtors Association; Evangeline Anderson, Windermere Real Estate; and Marsha Tadano-Long, Alan Rathbun, and Syd Becket, Department of Licensing.