H-3704.1 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 2349
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 55th Legislature 1998 Regular Session
By Representatives Ogden, Gardner, Romero, Butler, Chopp, Costa, Anderson, Kenney, Cooper, Constantine, Conway and Lantz
Read first time 01/12/98. Referred to Committee on Capital Budget.
AN ACT Relating to capital projects for local nonprofit art and cultural organizations; and adding a new section to chapter 43.63A RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 43.63A RCW to read as follows:
(1) A competitive grant program to assist nonprofit organizations in acquiring, constructing, or rehabilitating performing arts, art museums, and cultural facilities is created.
(2)(a) The department of community, trade, and economic development shall submit a list of recommended performing arts, art museum projects, and cultural organization projects eligible for funding to the state legislature. The list, in priority order, shall include a description of each project, the amount of recommended state funding, and documentation of nonstate funds to be used for the project.
(b) The department shall establish a competitive process to prioritize applications for state assistance as follows:
(i) The department shall conduct a state-wide solicitation of project applications from nonprofit organizations and other entities, as determined by the department. The department shall evaluate and rank applications in consultation with a citizen advisory committee, including a representative from the state arts commission, using objective criteria adopted by rule. The evaluation and ranking process shall also consider local community support for projects and an examination of existing assets that applicants may apply to projects.
(ii) The department may establish the amount of state grant assistance for individual project applications but the amount shall not exceed fifteen percent of the estimated total capital cost or actual cost of a project, whichever is less. The remaining portions of the project capital cost shall be a match from nonstate sources. The match may include land value and cash contributions. The department is authorized to set matching requirements for individual projects. State assistance may be used to fund separate definable phases of a project so long as the project demonstrates adequate progress and has secured the necessary match funding.
(iii) The department shall include provisions in the contracts for grants authorized under this section that require that capital improvements be held by the grantee for a specified period of time appropriate to the amount of the grant and that facilities be used for the express purpose of the grant. If the grantee is found to be out of compliance with provisions of the contract, the grantee shall repay to the state general fund the principal amount of the grant plus interest calculated at the rate of interest on state of Washington general obligation bonds issued most closely to the date of authorization of the grant.
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