BILL REQ. #:  S-0421.1 

Read first time 02/08/2005.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to property tax exemptions for churches and other religious organizations; amending RCW 84.36.020 and 84.36.030; and creating a new section.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 84.36.020 and 1994 c 124 s 16 are each amended to read as follows:
     The following real and personal property shall be exempt from taxation:
     All lands, buildings, and personal property required for necessary administration and maintenance, used, or to the extent used, exclusively for public burying grounds or cemeteries without discrimination as to race, color, national origin or ancestry;
     All churches, personal property, and the ground, not exceeding ((five)) twenty acres in area, upon which a church of any nonprofit recognized religious denomination is or shall be built, together with a parsonage, convent, and buildings and improvements required for the maintenance and safeguarding of such property. The area exempted shall in any case include all ground covered by the church, parsonage, convent, and buildings and improvements required for the maintenance and safeguarding of such property and the structures and ground necessary for street access, parking, light, and ventilation, but the area of unoccupied ground exempted in such cases, in connection with the church, parsonage, convent, and buildings and improvements required for the maintenance and safeguarding of such property, shall not exceed the equivalent of one ((hundred twenty by one hundred twenty feet)) and one-third acres except where additional unoccupied land may be required to conform with state or local codes, zoning, or licensing requirements. The parsonage and convent need not be on land contiguous to the church property. To be exempt the property must be wholly used for church purposes: PROVIDED, That the loan or rental of property otherwise exempt under this paragraph to a nonprofit organization, association, or corporation, or school for use for an eleemosynary activity shall not nullify the exemption provided in this paragraph if the rental income, if any, is reasonable and is devoted solely to the operation and maintenance of the property.

Sec. 2   RCW 84.36.030 and 1993 c 327 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     The following real and personal property shall be exempt from taxation:
     (1) Property owned by nonprofit organizations or associations, organized and conducted for nonsectarian purposes, which shall be used for character-building, benevolent, protective or rehabilitative social services directed at persons of all ages. The sale of donated merchandise shall not be considered a commercial use of the property under this section if the proceeds are devoted to the furtherance of the purposes of the selling organization or association as specified in this paragraph.
     (2) Property owned by any nonprofit ((church)) religious organization, denomination, or group of ((churches)) religious organizations, or ((an)) any organization or association, the membership of which is comprised solely of ((churches)) nonprofit religious organizations or their qualified representatives, which is utilized as a camp facility if used for organized and supervised recreational activities and ((church)) religious exercise purposes as related to such camp facilities. The exemption provided by this paragraph shall apply to a maximum of ((two)) four hundred acres of any such camp as selected by the ((church)) religious organization, including buildings and other improvements thereon.
     (3) Property, including buildings and improvements required for the maintenance and safeguarding of such property, owned by nonprofit organizations or associations engaged in character building of boys and girls under eighteen years of age, and used for such purposes and uses, provided such purposes and uses are for the general public good: PROVIDED, That if existing charters provide that organizations or associations, which would otherwise qualify under the provisions of this paragraph, serve boys and girls up to the age of twenty-one years, then such organizations or associations shall be deemed qualified pursuant to this section.
     (4) Property owned by all organizations and societies of veterans of any war of the United States, recognized as such by the department of defense, which shall have national charters, and which shall have for their general purposes and objects the preservation of the memories and associations incident to their war service and the consecration of the efforts of their members to mutual helpfulness and to patriotic and community service to state and nation. To be exempt such property must be used in such manner as may be reasonably necessary to carry out the purposes and objects of such societies.
     The use of the property for pecuniary gain or to promote business activities, except as provided in this subsection (4), nullifies the exemption otherwise available for the property for the assessment year. The exemption is not nullified by:
     (a) The collection of rent or donations if the amount is reasonable and does not exceed maintenance and operation expenses.
     (b) Fund-raising activities conducted by a nonprofit organization.
     (c) The use of the property for pecuniary gain for periods of not more than three days in a year.
     (d) An inadvertent use of the property in a manner inconsistent with the purpose for which exemption is granted, if the inadvertent use is not part of a pattern of use. A pattern of use is presumed when an inadvertent use is repeated in the same assessment year or in two or more successive assessment years.
     (5) Property owned by all corporations, incorporated under any act of congress, whose principal purposes are to furnish volunteer aid to members of the armed forces of the United States and also to carry on a system of national and international relief and to apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, fire, floods, and other national calamities and to devise and carry on measures for preventing the same.
     (6) Property owned by nonprofit organizations exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code of 1954, as amended, that are guarantee agencies under the federal guaranteed student loan program or that issue debt to provide or acquire student loans.
     (7) To be exempt under this section, the property must be used exclusively for the purposes for which exemption is granted, except as provided in RCW 84.36.805.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   This act applies to taxes levied for collection in 2006 and thereafter.