BILL REQ. #:  S-2227.1 

READ FIRST TIME 03/05/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to the community economic revitalization board; and amending RCW 43.160.020, 43.160.030, and 43.160.200.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 43.160.020 and 1999 c 164 s 102 are each amended to read as follows:
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Board" means the community economic revitalization board.
     (2) "Bond" means any bond, note, debenture, interim certificate, or other evidence of financial indebtedness issued by the board pursuant to this chapter.
     (3) "Department" means the department of community, trade, and economic development.
     (4) "Financial institution" means any bank, savings and loan association, credit union, development credit corporation, insurance company, investment company, trust company, savings institution, or other financial institution approved by the board and maintaining an office in the state.
     (5) "Industrial development facilities" means "industrial development facilities" as defined in RCW 39.84.020.
     (6) "Industrial development revenue bonds" means tax-exempt revenue bonds used to fund industrial development facilities.
     (7) "Local government" or "political subdivision" means any port district, county, city, town, special purpose district, and any other municipal corporations or quasi-municipal corporations in the state providing for public facilities under this chapter.
     (8) "Sponsor" means any of the following entities which customarily provide service or otherwise aid in industrial or other financing and are approved as a sponsor by the board: A bank, trust company, savings bank, investment bank, national banking association, savings and loan association, building and loan association, credit union, insurance company, or any other financial institution, governmental agency, or holding company of any entity specified in this subsection.
     (9) "Umbrella bonds" means industrial development revenue bonds from which the proceeds are loaned, transferred, or otherwise made available to two or more users under this chapter.
     (10) "User" means one or more persons acting as lessee, purchaser, mortgagor, or borrower under a financing document and receiving or applying to receive revenues from bonds issued under this chapter.
     (11) "Public facilities" means a project of a local government or a federally recognized Indian tribe for the planning, acquisition, construction, repair, reconstruction, replacement, rehabilitation, or improvement of bridges, roads, domestic and industrial water, earth stabilization, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, railroad, electricity, telecommunications, transportation, natural gas, buildings or structures, and port facilities, all for the purpose of job creation, job retention, or job expansion.
     (12) "Rural county" means a county with a population density of fewer than one hundred persons per square mile as determined by the office of financial management.
     (13) "Rural natural resources impact area" means:
     (a) A nonmetropolitan county, as defined by the 1990 decennial census, that meets three of the five criteria set forth in subsection (14) of this section;
     (b) A nonmetropolitan county with a population of less than forty thousand in the 1990 decennial census, that meets two of the five criteria as set forth in subsection (14) of this section; or
     (c) A nonurbanized area, as defined by the 1990 decennial census, that is located in a metropolitan county that meets three of the five criteria set forth in subsection (14) of this section.
     (14) For the purposes of designating rural natural resources impact areas, the following criteria shall be considered:
     (a) A lumber and wood products employment location quotient at or above the state average;
     (b) A commercial salmon fishing employment location quotient at or above the state average;
     (c) Projected or actual direct lumber and wood products job losses of one hundred positions or more;
     (d) Projected or actual direct commercial salmon fishing job losses of one hundred positions or more; and
     (e) An unemployment rate twenty percent or more above the state average. The counties that meet these criteria shall be determined by the employment security department for the most recent year for which data is available. For the purposes of administration of programs under this chapter, the United States post office five-digit zip code delivery areas will be used to determine residence status for eligibility purposes. For the purpose of this definition, a zip code delivery area of which any part is ten miles or more from an urbanized area is considered nonurbanized. A zip code totally surrounded by zip codes qualifying as nonurbanized under this definition is also considered nonurbanized. The office of financial management shall make available a zip code listing of the areas to all agencies and organizations providing services under this chapter.

Sec. 2   RCW 43.160.030 and 1996 c 51 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The community economic revitalization board is hereby created to exercise the powers granted under this chapter.
     (2) The board shall consist of the chairman of and one minority member appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives from the committee of the house of representatives that deals with issues of economic development, the chairman of and one minority member appointed by the president of the senate from the committee of the senate that deals with issues of economic development, and the following members appointed by the governor: A recognized private or public sector economist; one port district official; one county official; one city official; one representative of a federally recognized Indian tribe; one representative of the public; one representative of small businesses each from: (a) The area west of Puget Sound, (b) the area east of Puget Sound and west of the Cascade range, (c) the area east of the Cascade range and west of the Columbia river, and (d) the area east of the Columbia river; one executive from large businesses each from the area west of the Cascades and the area east of the Cascades. The appointive members shall initially be appointed to terms as follows: Three members for one-year terms, three members for two-year terms, and three members for three-year terms which shall include the chair. Thereafter each succeeding term shall be for three years. The chair of the board shall be selected by the governor. The members of the board shall elect one of their members to serve as vice-chair. The director of community, trade, and economic development, the director of revenue, the commissioner of employment security, and the secretary of transportation shall serve as nonvoting advisory members of the board.
     (3) Management services, including fiscal and contract services, shall be provided by the department to assist the board in implementing this chapter and the allocation of private activity bonds.
     (4) Members of the board shall be reimbursed for travel expenses as provided in RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.
     (5) If a vacancy occurs by death, resignation, or otherwise of appointive members of the board, the governor shall fill the same for the unexpired term. Members of the board may be removed for malfeasance or misfeasance in office, upon specific written charges by the governor, under chapter 34.05 RCW.
     (6) A member appointed by the governor may not be absent from more than fifty percent of the regularly scheduled meetings in any one calendar year. Any member who exceeds this absence limitation is deemed to have withdrawn from the office and may be replaced by the governor.

Sec. 3   RCW 43.160.200 and 1999 c 164 s 107 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The economic development account is created within the public facilities construction loan revolving fund under RCW 43.160.080. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used only for the purposes of RCW 43.160.010(5) and this section. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW.
     (2) Applications under this section for assistance from the economic development account are subject to all of the applicable criteria set forth under this chapter, as well as procedures and criteria established by the board, except as otherwise provided.
     (3) Eligible applicants under this section are limited to political subdivisions of the state and federally recognized Indian tribes in rural natural resources impact areas and rural counties.
     (4) Applicants must demonstrate that their request is part of an economic development plan consistent with applicable state planning requirements. Applicants must demonstrate that tourism projects have been approved by the local government or federally recognized Indian tribe. Industrial projects must be approved by the local government or the federally recognized Indian tribe and the associate development organization.
     (5) Publicly owned projects may be financed under this section upon proof by the applicant that the public project is a necessary component of, or constitutes in whole, a tourism project.
     (6) Applications must demonstrate local match and participation. Such match may include: Land donation, other public or private funds or both, or other means of local commitment to the project.
     (7) Board financing for project-specific environmental, capital facilities, land use, permitting, feasibility(([,])), and marketing studies and plans; project engineering, design, and site planning and analysis; and project debt and revenue impact analysis shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars per study. Board funds for these purposes may be provided as a grant and require a match.
     (8) Board financing for tourism projects shall not exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars. Other public facility construction projects under this section shall not exceed one million dollars. Loans with flexible terms and conditions to meet the needs of the applicants shall be provided. Grants may also be authorized, but only when, and to the extent that, a loan is not reasonably possible, given the limited resources of the political subdivision.
     (9) The board shall develop guidelines for allowable local match and planning and predevelopment activities.
     (10) The board may allow de minimis general system improvements to be funded if they are critically linked to the viability of the economic development project assisted under this section.
     (11) Applications under this section need not demonstrate evidence that specific private development or expansion is ready to occur or will occur if funds are provided.
     (12) The board shall establish guidelines for providing financial assistance under this section to ensure that the requirements of this chapter are complied with. The guidelines shall include:
     (a) A process to equitably compare and evaluate applications from competing communities.
     (b) Criteria to ensure that approved projects will have a high probability of success and are likely to provide long-term economic benefits to the community. The criteria shall include: (i) A minimum amount of local participation, determined by the board per application, to verify community support for the project; (ii) an analysis that establishes the project is feasible using standard economic principles; and (iii) an explanation from the applicant regarding how the project is consistent with the communities' economic strategy and goals.
     (c) A method of evaluating the impact of the financial assistance on the economy of the community and whether the financial assistance achieved its purpose.