H-2612.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1507

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By House Committee on Government Administration (originally sponsored by Representatives D. Schmidt, Sherstad, Mielke, L. Thomas, McMorris, Smith, Sump, D. Sommers, Crouse, Delvin, Honeyford, Cairnes, Pennington, Gardner, Dunn, Sullivan, Robertson, Koster, Thompson, McDonald, Bush, Kastama, Sheahan, Mulliken, Schoesler and Zellinsky)

Read first time 03/05/97.

Requiring accountability for fees by governmental agencies.

    AN ACT Relating to procedures for fees for governmental services; and adding a new section to chapter 58.17 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 58.17 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) Any fee charged by a city, town, or county for a building permit, preliminary plat, final plat, short plat, septic system permit, water permit, or any other development permit issued in order to develop property for residential purposes may not exceed the costs for administering the permit or plat approval.  Nothing in this section shall limit the authority of a city, town, or county to impose charges which are mandated or authorized by statute.

    (2) Each city, town, and county must prepare a written statement by September 1, 1997, which details the costs to administer each category of development permits and plat approvals described in subsection (1) of this section.  Development permits and plat approvals which cost less than two hundred dollars are exempt from the requirements of this subsection.  The statement must identify the amount of the fee which is attributable to employee salaries and benefits, capital outlays such as supplies and equipment, and other administrative and overhead expenditures.  A statement prepared pursuant to this section is subject to public inspection and copying.  The written statement required pursuant to this subsection must be revised whenever the amount of a fee for a development permit or plat approval is modified.

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