BILL REQ. #:  S-4759.3 

READ FIRST TIME 02/25/04.   

     AN ACT Relating to providing financial assistance to counties; amending RCW 82.08.160; reenacting and amending RCW 43.79A.040; adding a new section to chapter 43.31 RCW; and providing an effective date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 43.31 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The county financial assistance advisory council is established within the department of community, trade, and economic development. The council shall include: Two members of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, one from each caucus; two members of the senate, appointed by the president of the senate, one from each caucus; two representatives appointed by the Washington state association of counties; and one member appointed by the governor, who shall serve as chairperson of the advisory council.
     (2) Members shall not be compensated, but shall receive reimbursement for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060. The department of community, trade, and economic development shall provide administrative and clerical assistance to the advisory council.
     (3) The advisory council shall determine which counties have a tax base insufficient to provide basic county services to their citizens and shall determine the county allocation of funds deposited in the county assistance account created in this section. The council shall give priority in funding to those counties that had the greatest decline in their current expense budget as a result of the repeal of the state motor vehicle excise tax. The council may develop additional criteria to assist in funding recommendations. Counties that had a decrease of less than six percent in their current expense budget due to the repeal of the state motor vehicle excise tax are not eligible for the disbursement of funds under this section. The advisory council shall make disbursement recommendations to the department on an annual basis.
     (4) The department shall administer a grant program to the counties, taking into consideration the annual recommendations of the advisory council.
     (5) The county assistance account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts from disbursements made under RCW 82.08.160 must be deposited into the account. Expenditures from the account may be used only for the purposes provided in this section. Only the director of the department of community, trade, and economic development or the director's designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.

Sec. 2   RCW 82.08.160 and 1982 1st ex.s. c 35 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) On or before the twenty-fifth day of each month, all taxes collected under RCW 82.08.150 during the preceding month shall be remitted to the state department of revenue, to be deposited with the state treasurer. ((Upon receipt of such moneys))
     (2) Of the money collected and remitted under RCW 82.08.150 (1), (2), (3), and (4), the state treasurer shall deposit each month four hundred seventy thousand dollars to the county assistance account. Beginning on July 1, 2005, and every July 1st thereafter, the state treasurer shall increase the transfer to the county assistance account by the fiscal growth factor, as defined in RCW 43.135.025, forecast by the office of financial management in November of the preceding year. The state treasurer shall, after making the deposit to the county assistance account, credit sixty-five percent of the remaining sums collected and remitted under RCW 82.08.150 (1) and (2) and one hundred percent of the remaining sums collected and remitted under RCW 82.08.150 (3) and (4) to the state general fund, and thirty-five percent of the remaining sums collected and remitted under RCW 82.08.150 (1) and (2) to a fund which is hereby created to be known as the "liquor excise tax fund."

Sec. 3   RCW 43.79A.040 and 2003 c 403 s 9, 2003 c 313 s 10, 2003 c 191 s 7, 2003 c 148 s 15, 2003 c 92 s 8, and 2003 c 19 s 12 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     (1) Money in the treasurer's trust fund may be deposited, invested, and reinvested by the state treasurer in accordance with RCW 43.84.080 in the same manner and to the same extent as if the money were in the state treasury.
     (2) All income received from investment of the treasurer's trust fund shall be set aside in an account in the treasury trust fund to be known as the investment income account.
     (3) The investment income account may be utilized for the payment of purchased banking services on behalf of treasurer's trust funds including, but not limited to, depository, safekeeping, and disbursement functions for the state treasurer or affected state agencies. The investment income account is subject in all respects to chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for payments to financial institutions. Payments shall occur prior to distribution of earnings set forth in subsection (4) of this section.
     (4)(a) Monthly, the state treasurer shall distribute the earnings credited to the investment income account to the state general fund except under (b) and (c) of this subsection.
     (b) The following accounts and funds shall receive their proportionate share of earnings based upon each account's or fund's average daily balance for the period: The Washington promise scholarship account, the college savings program account, the Washington advanced college tuition payment program account, the agricultural local fund, the American Indian scholarship endowment fund, the students with dependents grant account, the basic health plan self-insurance reserve account, the contract harvesting revolving account, the Washington state combined fund drive account, the county assistance account, the Washington international exchange scholarship endowment fund, the developmental disabilities endowment trust fund, the energy account, the fair fund, the fruit and vegetable inspection account, the game farm alternative account, the grain inspection revolving fund, the juvenile accountability incentive account, the law enforcement officers' and fire fighters' plan 2 expense fund, the local tourism promotion account, the produce railcar pool account, the rural rehabilitation account, the stadium and exhibition center account, the youth athletic facility account, the self-insurance revolving fund, the sulfur dioxide abatement account, and the children's trust fund((, and the investing in innovation account)). However, the earnings to be distributed shall first be reduced by the allocation to the state treasurer's service fund pursuant to RCW 43.08.190.
     (c) The following accounts and funds shall receive eighty percent of their proportionate share of earnings based upon each account's or fund's average daily balance for the period: The advanced right of way revolving fund, the advanced environmental mitigation revolving account, the city and county advance right-of-way revolving fund, the federal narcotics asset forfeitures account, the high occupancy vehicle account, the local rail service assistance account, and the miscellaneous transportation programs account.
     (5) In conformance with Article II, section 37 of the state Constitution, no trust accounts or funds shall be allocated earnings without the specific affirmative directive of this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act takes effect July 1, 2004.