H-1824.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1514

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1995 Regular Session

By House Committee on Finance (originally sponsored by Representatives Hymes, Dickerson, Costa, D. Schmidt, Hargrove, Romero, Poulsen, B. Thomas, Regala, R. Fisher, Benton, Wolfe, Ogden and Conway)

Read first time 02/16/95.

Directing the department of revenue to prepare legislation to reorganize Titles 82 and 84 RCW.

    AN ACT Relating to reorganization of Titles 82 and 84 RCW; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The department of revenue shall prepare legislation for submission to the 1997 legislature that reorganizes and rewrites the state tax codes.  The reorganization shall result in a tax code that is easy to read and use, but the reorganization shall not make substantive changes to law.  The proposed legislation may affect sections outside Titles 82 and 84 RCW only to correct references.

    In developing the legislation, the department shall strive to keep the writing simple, precise, and accurate.  The department shall follow generally accepted methods of clear writing, including:  Use plain language, use the active voice, minimize jargon, avoid excessive cross- references, and provide definitions where a word may have more than one meaning.  The department may reorganize the tax codes as necessary for readability and ease of use.

    The department shall include in the legislation a statement regarding application of previous interpretations of the revised statutes, explicitly stating that the intent of the legislature is not to change substantive law and that previous judicial interpretations, rule making, and administrative determinations carry over to the reorganized statute.

    The fiscal committees of the house of representatives and of the senate, and the code reviser's office, shall cooperate with the department in the preparation of the legislation.  The department shall do the reorganization in phases, identifying problem areas, developing an organizational framework, and rewriting.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  An oversight committee shall review the redrafting of Titles 82 and 84 RCW as it is completed, to ensure that no substantive changes have been made.  This oversight committee shall consist of two members of the house of representatives, two members of the senate, and representatives of local government, the business community, the attorney general's office, and other affected groups as necessary.  Members from the house of representatives and the senate shall be appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate, respectively.  The director of the department of revenue shall appoint other members of the committee.

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