S-4993.1  _______________________________________________

 

                SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6107

          _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington      53rd Legislature     1994 Regular Session

 

By Senate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators Skratek, Sheldon and M. Rasmussen)

 

Read first time 02/08/94.

 

Allowing fees for services for the department of community, trade, and economic development.



    AN ACT Relating to fees for services for the department of community, trade, and economic development; amending RCW 70.95H.040; reenacting and amending RCW 43.210.110; adding new sections to chapter 43.330 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 70.95H RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

 

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

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:

    The department is authorized to charge reasonable fees to cover costs for conferences, workshops, and training purposes and to expend those fees for the purposes for which they were collected.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:

    In order to extend its services and programs, the department may charge reasonable fees for services and products provided in the areas of financial assistance, housing, international trade, community assistance, economic development, and other service delivery areas, except as otherwise provided.  These fees are not intended to exceed the costs of providing the service or preparing and distributing the product.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3.  A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:

    Before the fees authorized in section 2 of this act become effective the department shall:

    (1) Submit the proposed schedule of fees to the office of financial management for approval on or before November 1, 1994; and

    (2) Submit the fees approved by the office of financial management to the appropriate committees of the senate and house of representatives before December 1, 1994.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4.  A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:

    The community and economic development fee account is created in the state treasury.  The department may create subaccounts as necessary.  The account consists of all receipts from fees charged by the department under section 1 of this act.  Expenditures from the account may be used only for the purposes of this chapter.  Only the director or the director's designee may authorize expenditures from the account.  Expenditures from the account may be spent only after appropriation.

 

    Sec. 5.  RCW 70.95H.040 and 1991 c 319 s 206 are each amended to read as follows:

    In order to carry out its responsibilities under this chapter, the center may:

    (1) Receive such gifts, grants, funds, fees, and endowments, in trust or otherwise, for the use and benefit of the purposes of the center.  The center may expend the same or any income therefrom according to the terms of the gifts, grants, or endowments;

    (2) Initiate, conduct, or contract for studies and searches relating to market development for recyclable materials, including but not limited to applied research, technology transfer, and pilot demonstration projects;

    (3) Obtain and disseminate information relating to market development for recyclable materials from other state and local agencies;

    (4) Enter into, amend, and terminate contracts with individuals, corporations, trade associations, and research institutions for the purposes of this chapter;

    (5) Provide grants to local governments or other public institutions to further the development of recycling markets;

    (6) Provide business and marketing assistance to public and private sector entities within the state; ((and))

    (7) Evaluate, analyze, and make recommendations on state policies that may affect markets for recyclable materials; and

    (8) Charge fees for services and products and expend the fees or any income therefrom for purposes of the center.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6.  A new section is added to chapter 70.95H RCW to read as follows:

    The clean Washington center fee account is created in the state treasury.  Proceeds from fees collected by the center for services and products shall be deposited into this account.  Expenditures from this account may be used only for the purposes under this chapter.  Only the director or the director's designee may authorize expenditures from the account.  Expenditures from the account may be spent only after appropriation.

 

    Sec. 7.  RCW 43.210.110 and 1993 sp.s. c 24 s 922, 1993 c 366 s 1, and 1993 c 280 s 57 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

    (1) The small business export finance assistance center has the following powers and duties when exercising its authority under RCW 43.210.100(3):

    (a) Solicit and accept grants, contributions, and any other financial assistance from the federal government, federal agencies, and any other public or private sources to carry out its purposes;

    (b) Offer comprehensive export assistance and counseling to manufacturers relatively new to exporting with gross annual revenues less than twenty-five million dollars.  As close to seventy-five percent as possible of each year's new cadre of clients must have gross annual revenues of less than five million dollars at the time of their initial contract.  At least fifty percent of each year's new cadre of clients shall be from timber impact areas as defined in RCW 43.31.601.  Counseling may include, but not be limited to, helping clients obtain debt or equity financing, in constructing competent proposals, and assessing federal guarantee and/or insurance programs that underwrite exporting risk; assisting clients in evaluating their international marketplace by developing marketing materials, assessing and selecting targeted markets; assisting firms in finding foreign customers by conducting foreign market research, evaluating distribution systems, selecting and assisting in identification of and/or negotiations with foreign agents, distributors, retailers, and by promoting products through attending trade shows abroad; advising companies on their products, guarantees, and after sales service requirements necessary to compete effectively in a foreign market; designing a competitive strategy for a firm's products in targeted markets and methods of minimizing their commercial and political risks; securing for clients specific assistance as needed, outside the center's field of expertise, by referrals to other public or private organizations.  The Pacific Northwest export assistance project shall focus its efforts on facilitating export transactions for its clients, and in doing so, provide such technical services as are appropriate to accomplish its mission either with staff or outside consultants;

    (c) Sign three-year counseling agreements with its clients that provide for termination if adequate funding for the Pacific Northwest export assistance project is not provided in future appropriations.  Counseling agreements shall not be renewed unless there are compelling reasons to do so, and under no circumstances shall they be renewed for more than two additional years.  A counseling agreement may not be renewed more than once.  The counseling agreements shall have mutual performance clauses, that if not met, will be grounds for releasing each party, without penalty, from the provisions of the agreement.  Clients shall be immediately released from a counseling agreement with the Pacific Northwest export assistance project, without penalty, if a client wishes to switch to a private export management service and produces a valid contract signed with a private export management service, or if the president of the small business export finance assistance center determines there are compelling reasons to release a client from the provisions of the counseling agreement;

    (d) May contract with private or public international trade education services to provide Pacific Northwest export assistance project clients with training in international business.  The president and board of directors shall decide the amount of funding allocated for educational services based on the availability of resources in the operating budget of the Pacific Northwest export assistance project;

    (e) May contract with the Washington state international trade fair to provide services for Pacific Northwest export assistance project clients to participate in one trade show annually.  The president and board of directors shall decide the amount of funding allocated for trade fair assistance based on the availability of resources in the operating budget of the Pacific Northwest export assistance project;

    (f) Provide biennial assessments of its performance.  Project personnel shall work with the department of revenue and employment security department to confidentially track the performance of the project's clients in increasing tax revenues to the state, increasing gross sales revenues and volume of products destined to foreign clients, and in creating new jobs for Washington citizens.  A biennial report shall be prepared for the governor and legislature to assess the costs and benefits to the state from creating the project.  The president of the small business export finance assistance center shall design an appropriate methodology for biennial assessments in consultation with the director of community, trade, and economic development and the director of the Washington state department of agriculture.  The department of revenue and the employment security department shall provide data necessary to complete this biennial evaluation, if the data being requested is available from existing data bases.  Client-specific information generated from the files of the department of revenue and the employment security department for the purposes of this evaluation shall be kept strictly confidential by each department and the small business export finance assistance center;

    (g) Take whatever action may be necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in RCW 43.210.070 and 43.210.100 through 43.210.120; and

    (h) Limit its assistance to promoting the exportation of value-added manufactured goods.  The project shall not provide counseling or assistance, under any circumstances, for the importation of foreign made goods into the United States.

    (2) The Pacific Northwest export assistance project shall not, under any circumstances, assume ownership or take title to the goods of its clients.

    (3) The Pacific Northwest export assistance project may not use any Washington state funds which come from the public treasury of the state of Washington to make loans or to make any payment under a loan guarantee agreement.  Under no circumstances may the center use any funds received under RCW 43.210.050 to make or assist in making any loan or to pay or assist in paying any amount under a loan guarantee agreement.  Debts of the center shall be center debts only and may be satisfied only from the resources of the center.  The state of Washington shall not in any way be liable for such debts.

    (4) The Pacific Northwest export assistance project shall make every effort to seek nonstate funds to supplement its operations.  The small business export finance assistance center and the project are authorized to charge reasonable fees for services and products provided and to expend the proceeds for the particular purposes for which they were collected.

    (5) The small business export finance assistance center and its Pacific Northwest export assistance project shall take whatever steps are necessary to provide its services, if requested, to the states of Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.  Interstate services shall not be provided by the Pacific Northwest export assistance project during its first biennium of operation.  The provision of services may be temporary and subject to the payment of fees, or each state may request permanent services contingent upon a level of permanent funding adequate for services provided.  Temporary services and fees may be negotiated by the small business export finance assistance center's president subject to approval of the board of directors.  The president of the small business export finance assistance center may enter into negotiations with neighboring states to contract for delivery of the project's services.  Final contracts for providing the project's counseling and services outside of the state of Washington on a permanent basis shall be subject to approval of the governor, appropriate legislative oversight committees, and the small business export finance assistance center's board of directors.

    (6) The small business export finance assistance center may receive such gifts, grants, and endowments from public or private sources as may be made from time to time, in trust or otherwise, for the use and benefit of the purposes of the Pacific Northwest export assistance project and expend the same or any income therefrom according to the terms of the gifts, grants, or endowments.

    (7) The president of the small business export finance assistance center, in consultation with the board of directors, may use the following formula in determining the number of clients that can be reasonably served by the Pacific Northwest export assistance project relative to its appropriation.  Divide the amount appropriated for administration of the Pacific Northwest export assistance project by the marginal cost of adding each additional Pacific Northwest export assistance project client.  For the purposes of this calculation, and only for the first biennium of operation, the biennial marginal cost of adding each additional Pacific Northwest export assistance project client shall be fifty-seven thousand ninety-five dollars.  The biennial marginal cost of adding each additional client after the first biennium of operation shall be established from the actual operating experience of the Pacific Northwest export assistance project.

    (((8) All receipts from the Pacific Northwest export assistance project shall be deposited into the general fund.  However, during the 1993-95 fiscal biennium, the receipts of the project shall be deposited into the small business export finance assistance center fund under RCW 43.210.070.))

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8.  The fees authorized under this act shall be adopted by rule pursuant to chapter 34.05 RCW.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9.  The amendments to section 7, chapter . . ., Laws of 1994 (section 7 of this act) are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect March 1, 1994.

 


                            --- END ---