CERTIFICATION
OF ENROLLMENT
ENGROSSED SECOND
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5468
Chapter
302, Laws of 1994
CHAPTER
NO. CORRECTED
(partial
veto)
53rd
Legislature
1994
Regular Session
BUSINESSES‑-TAX
INCENTIVES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION
EFFECTIVE
DATE: 4/2/94
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Passed by the Senate March 10, 1994
YEAS 30 NAYS 18
JOEL PRITCHARD
President of the Senate
Passed by the House March 10, 1994
YEAS 61 NAYS 36
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CERTIFICATE
I, Marty Brown, Secretary of the Senate of the State
of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is ENGROSSED SECOND
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5468 as passed by the Senate and the House of
Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.
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|
BRIAN EBERSOLE
Speaker of the
House of Representatives
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MARTY BROWN
Secretary
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Approved April 2, 1994, with the exception of
section 2, which is vetoed. Place Style On Codes
above, and Style Off Codes below.
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FILED
April 2, 1994 - 2:12 p.m.
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MIKE LOWRY
Governor of the State of
Washington
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Secretary of State
State of Washington
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_______________________________________________
ENGROSSED SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5468
_______________________________________________
AS RECOMMENDED BY THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Passed Legislature - 1994 Regular Session
State of Washington 53rd
Legislature 1994 Regular Session
By
Read first time 02/04/94.
Imposing
requirements for businesses that receive public assistance.
AN ACT Relating to
private business entities receiving public assistance; adding a new chapter to
Title 43 RCW; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec.
1. The legislature finds
that when public funds are used to support private enterprise, the public may
gain through the creation of new jobs, the diversification of the economy, or
higher quality jobs for existing workers. The legislature further finds that
such returns on public investments are not automatic and that tax-based
incentives, in particular, may result in a greater tax burden on businesses and
individuals that are not eligible for the public support. It is the purpose of
this chapter to collect information sufficient to allow the legislature and the
executive branch to make informed decisions about the merits of existing
tax-based incentives and loan programs intended to encourage economic
development in the state.The text of the following section
has been vetoed by the Governor. It is noted in bold italic.
*NEW SECTION.
Sec. 2. (1) The department of
revenue and the department of community, trade, and economic development shall
gather such base-line data as is necessary to measure the effect on businesses
of any of the following benefits: (a) A loan of one hundred thousand dollars
or more from the development loan fund; (b) fifty thousand dollars or more in
tax credits under chapter 82.62 RCW; or (c) a deferral of one hundred thousand
dollars or more in taxes under chapter 82.60 or 82.61 RCW. The departments
shall measure the effect of the programs on job creation, company growth, the
introduction of new products, the diversification of the state's economy,
growth in investments, the movement of firms or the consolidation of firms'
operation into the state, and such other factors as the departments select.
(2) The departments
shall also measure whether the businesses receiving the benefits: (a) Have
complied with federal and state requirements for affirmative action in hiring
and promotion of their employees; (b) have provided an average wage that is
above the average wage paid by firms located in the same county that share the
same two-digit standard industrial code; (c) have provided basic health
coverage at a level at least equivalent to basic health coverage under chapter
70.47 RCW; (d) have complied with all applicable federal and state
environmental and employment laws and regulations; and (e) have complied with
the requirements of all federal and state plant closure laws if reducing
operations at a facility or relocating a facility.
(3) Businesses
applying for one of the benefits specified in subsection (1) of this section
shall submit employment impact estimates to the departments specifying the
number and types of jobs, with wage rates and benefits for those jobs, that the
business submitting the application expects to be eliminated, created, or
retained on the project site and on other employment sites of the business in
Washington as a result of the project that is the subject of the application.
(4) The departments
shall specify that upon a certain date or dates, the businesses that receive
one of the benefits specified in subsection (1) of this section shall submit to
the department an employment impact statement stating the net number and types
of jobs eliminated, created, or retained, with the wage rates and benefits for
those jobs, by the business in Washington as a result of the benefit received.
(5) The information
collected on individual businesses under this section is not subject to public
disclosure.
(6) The departments
shall report their findings to the executive-legislative committee on economic
development policy, or the appropriate legislative committees, if the
executive-legislative committee on economic development policy is not created
by statute, by September 1, 1995. The report shall provide aggregate
information on businesses that share the same two-digit standard industrial
code.
(6) The
executive-legislative committee on economic development policy shall evaluate
the departments' report and make recommendations to the governor and the
legislature on the continuation of the benefit programs and any conditions
under which they should operate if they are to continue.
*Sec. 2
was vetoed, see message at end of chapter.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
3. Sections 1 and 2 of this
act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 43 RCW.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
4. This act is 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 immediately.
Passed
the Senate March 10, 1994.
Passed
the House March 10, 1994.
Approved by the Governor April 2, 1994, with the
exception of certain items which were vetoed.
Filed in
Office of Secretary of State April 2, 1994.
Note: Governor's
explanation of partial veto is as follows:
"I am returning
herewith, without my approval as to section 2, Engrossed Second Substitute
Senate Bill No. 5468 entitled:
"AN ACT Relating to private business entities receiving public
assistance;"
This legislation would direct the Department
of Revenue and the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development to
prepare a study of firms that have participated in state sales tax deferral,
business and occupation tax credit, and development loan fund programs. The
departments would be required to collect information to measure the effect of
these tax provisions and loans on businesses. The departments would also be
directed to measure whether the firms participating in the programs have
followed a wide range of federal and state requirements under other statutes
and have met other standards of conduct not required under current law. Firms
applying for participation in these programs would be required to prepare
employment impact estimates for the departments.
I understand and agree with the premise that
the state has an interest in determining whether its economic development
programs are achieving their intended effect. I also agree that the goal of
state economic development activities is to encourage a sustainable high wage,
high skill economy in the state for all of the state's citizens.
I continue to believe that the state should
maintain high environmental, health and safety, and employment standards
implemented in a way that minimize bureaucracy, duplication, and confusion for
the state's businesses. High standards should be enacted in the laws that
govern these subjects. However, if compliance with existing standards in these
areas is to be examined by the study, the Department of Revenue and the
Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development are not the proper
agencies to conduct the study.
I am also concerned that the private business
information to be collected from businesses under this legislation would be
subject to public disclosure. Because we believe that public business should
take place in the open, our state has one of the strongest public disclosure
statutes in the nation. The only way for publicly collected information to
remain confidential is to amend our public disclosure statutes to specifically
exempt such information from disclosure requirements. Despite the effort in the
legislation to ensure that information collected from individual firms will
remain confidential, I believe that information collected would be subject to
disclosure.
As a result of these two concerns, I am
vetoing section 2 of Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill No. 5468. However,
I also believe that it is in the state's long-term interest to promote a
sustainable high wage, high skill economy and to maintain high environmental,
health and safety, and employment standards. As a result, I am asking the
directors of state agencies with responsibility for environmental protection,
employment, economic development, and workplace health and safety to identify
threshold criteria that the state should consider applying in the future as
eligibility criteria for state assistance programs. If businesses are willful
repeat violators of existing statutes in these areas, these businesses should
be removed from the benefits of the state's economic development programs. I am
also directing these agencies to involve interested parties in the process of
identifying such criteria. I will examine the results of these actions and
consider requesting changes in state law and regulations to implement them.
With the exception of
section 2, Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill No. 5468 is approved."