BILL REQ. #:  Z-0402.1 

Read first time 01/28/2003.   Referred to Committee on Highways & Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to moving and relocation expenses; and amending RCW 8.26.035.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 8.26.035 and 1988 c 90 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Whenever a program or project to be undertaken by a displacing agency will result in the displacement of any person, the displacing agency shall provide for the payment to the displaced person of:
     (a) Actual reasonable expenses in moving himself or herself, or his or her family, business, farm operation, or other personal property;
     (b) Actual direct losses of tangible personal property as a result of moving or discontinuing a business or farm operation, but not to exceed an amount equal to the reasonable expenses that would have been required to relocate the property, in accordance with criteria established by the lead agency;
     (c) Actual reasonable expenses in searching for a replacement business or farm; and
     (d) Actual reasonable expenses necessary to reestablish a displaced farm, nonprofit organization, or small business at its new site, in accordance with criteria established by the lead agency((, but not to exceed ten thousand dollars)) that is consistent with federal rules and regulations.
     (2) A displaced person eligible for payments under subsection (1) of this section who is displaced from a dwelling and who elects to accept the payments authorized by this subsection in lieu of the payments authorized by subsection (1) of this section may receive an expense and dislocation allowance determined according to a schedule established by the lead agency.
     (3) A displaced person eligible for payments under subsection (1) of this section who is displaced from the person's place of business or farm operation and who is eligible under criteria established by the lead agency may elect to accept the payment authorized by this subsection in lieu of the payment authorized by subsection (1) of this section. The payment shall consist of a fixed payment in an amount to be determined according to criteria established by the lead agency, except that the payment shall be not less than one thousand dollars nor more than twenty thousand dollars. A person whose sole business at the displacement dwelling is the rental of that property to others does not qualify for a payment under this subsection.