BILL REQ. #: S-3969.2
| State of Washington | 60th Legislature | 2008 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/16/08. Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.
AN ACT Relating to sales tax incentives for highly energy efficient appliances and equipment; adding new sections to chapter 82.08 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 82.12 RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective date; and providing an expiration date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that improving energy
efficiency is key to achieving the state's goals to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The legislature further finds
that increased energy efficiency saves Washington businesses and
residents money, which in turn helps the state and local economy, as
energy bill savings can be spent on local goods and services.
Washington state and federal appliance standards passed since 2005 will
produce about 80,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions savings
toward Washington's 2020 target. However, there are a number of
commonly used large appliances and equipment on the market that are not
subject to those standards. In addition, there are many new products
on the market that are much more energy efficient than required by such
standards, but because they may be more expensive than standard models,
they represent only a small percentage of sales. Many large appliances
and equipment, once purchased, will be in use for ten to fifteen years;
therefore, the more energy efficient they are, the greater the energy
and cost savings and reductions in climate pollution.
Thus, the legislature intends to enact tax incentives as a means to
encourage Washington residents and businesses to purchase certain high
efficiency appliances and equipment and to maximize the energy savings
opportunity available through increased and sustained market share of
those appliances and equipment.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 82.08 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) The tax levied by RCW 82.08.020 does not apply to sales of the
following appliances and equipment:
(a) Refrigerators for residential use that meet the federal energy
star standard in effect as of April 28, 2008;
(b) Commercial freezers and refrigerators meeting consortium for
energy efficiency tier 2 specifications dated July 31, 2007;
(c) Gas or propane furnaces for residential use, which meet the
federal energy star standard rating as of October 27, 2006, and that
have an annual fuel utilization efficiency rating of ninety percent or
higher;
(d) Oil furnaces for residential use, which meet the federal energy
star standard rating as of October 1, 2008, and that have an annual
fuel utilization efficiency rating of eighty-five percent or higher;
(e)(i) High efficiency air source heat pumps for residential use
that have a heating seasonal performance factor of nine, a seasonal
energy efficiency ratio of fifteen or greater, unless for a
manufactured home.
(ii) If for a manufactured home, the heat pump must meet a heating
seasonal performance factor of seven and one-half and a seasonal energy
efficiency ratio of twelve or greater;
(f) Natural gas hot water or propane hot water heaters for
residential use that have an energy factor of 0.62 or higher, a
capacity of twenty to one hundred gallons of storage, and a maximum
input of seventy-five thousand BTUs per hour, or an energy factor of
0.82 or greater for an instantaneous model (tankless);
(g) Residential electric water heaters (tank type) with an energy
factor of 0.91 (efficiency) or greater;
(h) High efficiency commercial clothes washers meeting consortium
for energy efficiency specifications dated November 14, 2007;
(i) High efficiency clothes washers for residential use meeting
tier 3 consortium for energy efficiency specifications dated January 1,
2007;
(j) Commercial ice makers meeting consortium for energy efficiency
specifications dated January 1, 2006;
(k) Commercial full-sized gas convection ovens with interior
measurements of six cubic feet or larger;
(l) Commercial deep fat fryers which are rated energy star as of
August 2003;
(m) Commercial hot food holding cabinets which are rated energy
star as of August 2003; and
(n) Commercial electric and gas steam cookers, also known as
compartment cookers, which are rated energy star as of August 2003.
(2) Sellers of the equipment and appliances under subsection (1) of
this section must keep records necessary for the department to verify
eligibility under this section.
(3) No later than July 1, 2008, the department must create and make
available a detailed list, including brand names and model numbers, of
all the appliances and equipment that meet the requirements of this
section.
(4) The department of community, trade, and economic development
must prepare and deliver a report to the legislature no later than
December 30, 2010, assessing the overall energy and cost saving impacts
of sections 1 through 7 of this act.
(5) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this
section, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Annual fuel utilization efficiency" means the measurement of
the amount of fuel converted to space heat in proportion to the amount
of fuel entering the furnace. This is commonly expressed as a
percentage;
(b) "BTU" means British thermal unit, which is the quantity of heat
required to raise one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit;
(c) "Commercial refrigerators and freezers" means:
(i) Refrigerators, freezers, or refrigerator-freezers designed for
use by commercial or institutional facilities for the purpose of
storing or merchandising food products, beverages, or ice at specified
temperatures that: (A) Incorporate most components involved in the
vapor-compression cycle and the refrigerated compartment in a single
cabinet; and (B) may be configured with either solid or transparent
doors as a reach-in cabinet, pass-through cabinet, roll-in cabinet, or
roll-through cabinet.
(ii) "Commercial refrigerators and freezers" does not include: (A)
Products with eighty-five cubic feet or more of internal volume; (B)
walk-in refrigerators or freezers; (C) consumer products that are
federally regulated pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6291 et seq.; (D)
products without doors; or (E) freezers specifically designed for ice
cream;
(d) "Commercial clothes washer" means a soft mount horizontal or
vertical-axis clothes washer that: (a) Has a clothes container
compartment no greater than three and one-half cubic feet in the case
of a horizontal-axis product or no greater than four cubic feet in the
case of a vertical-axis product; and (b) is designed for use by more
than one household, such as in multifamily housing, apartments, or coin
laundries;
(e) "Commercial hot food holding cabinet" means an appliance that
is designed to hold hot food at a specified temperature, which has been
cooked using a separate appliance;
(f) "Commercial ice maker" means a factory-made assembly, not
necessarily shipped in one package, consisting of a condensing unit and
ice-making section operating as an integrated unit with means for
making and harvesting ice. It may also include integrated components
for storing or dispensing ice, or both;
(g) "Commercial open, deep-fat fryer" means an appliance, including
a cooking vessel, in which oil is placed to such a depth that the
cooking food is essentially supported by displacement of the cooking
fluid rather than by the bottom of the vessel. Heat is delivered to
the cooking fluid by means of an immersed electric element or
band-wrapped vessel (electric fryers), or by heat transfer from gas
burners through either the walls of the fryer or through tubes passing
through the cooking fluid (gas fryers);
(h) "Compartment steamer" has the same meaning as a "steam cooker"
in this section;
(i) "Consortium" means the consortium for energy efficiency, a
United States nonprofit public benefits corporation that promotes the
manufacture and purchase of energy efficient products and services.
The consortium's members include utilities, statewide and regional
market transformation administrators, environmental groups, research
organizations, and state energy offices in the United States and
Canada;
(j) "Energy star" is an energy efficient product that meets the
federal environmental protection agency's and federal department of
energy's criteria for use of the energy star trademark label, or is in
the upper twenty-five percent of efficiency for all similar products as
designated by the federal energy management program. Energy star is a
voluntary labeling program designed to identify and promote energy
efficient products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
(k) "Energy efficiency ratio" is a measure of the instantaneous
energy efficiency of cooling equipment. Energy efficiency ration is
the steady-state rate of heat energy removal (e.g., cooling capacity)
by the equipment in BTU per hour divided by the steady-state rate of
energy input to the equipment in watts. This ratio is expressed in BTU
per hour per watt;
(l) "Energy factor" means the measure of the overall, and not
relative, energy efficiency and is computed based on total energy
consumed by the appliance or equipment;
(m) "Furnace" means a heating unit with a heat input rate of less
than two hundred twenty-five thousand BTUs per hour whose function is
the combustion of fossil fuel for space heating with forced hot air.
The heating unit must include a burner, heat exchanger, blower, and
connections to heating ducts. A heating unit that meets this
definition and also provides hot water for domestic or other use may be
considered a furnace for purposes of this section;
(n) "Heating seasonal performance factor" means a measure of a heat
pump's energy efficiency over one heating season. It represents the
total heating output of a heat pump, including supplementary electric
heat, during the normal heating season, measured in BTUs, as compared
to the total electricity consumed in watt hours during the same period;
(o) "Heat pump" means one or more factory-made assemblies, which
normally include an indoor conditioning coil, compressor, and outdoor
coil, including means to provide a heating function and to provide the
function of air heating with controlled temperature, and may include
the functions of air cooling, air circulation, air cleaning,
dehumidifying, or humidifying;
(p) "Performance tested comfort system" means a heat pump program
with standards developed by the Northwest power and conservation
planning council regional technical forum;
(q) "Refrigerators for residential use" means refrigerators and
refrigerator-freezers designed for storing food and beverages in
noncommercial settings;
(r) "Seasonal energy efficiency ratio" means a measure of equipment
energy efficiency over the cooling season. It represents the total
cooling of a central air conditioner or heat pump in BTUs during the
normal cooling season as compared to the total electric energy input in
watt hours consumed during the same period; and
(s) "Steam cooker" means a device with one or more food steaming
compartments, in which the energy in the steam is transferred to the
food by direct contact. Models may include countertop models,
wall-mounted models and floor models mounted on a stand, pedestal, or
cabinet-style base.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 A new section is added to chapter 82.12 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) The provisions of this chapter do not apply to the use of labor
and services rendered in respect to appliances and equipment listed
under section 2(1) of this act.
(2) Sellers of labor and services under subsection (1) of this
section must keep records necessary for the department to verify
eligibility under this section.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4 A new section is added to chapter 82.08 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) The tax levied by RCW 82.08.020 does not apply to sales of, or
charges made for, labor and services associated with the following:
(a) Optimizing heat pump efficiency by testing and correcting for
the proper amount of refrigerant charge and airflow when performed by
contractors approved by the local electric or gas utility or certified
by performance tested comfort system, or both; and
(b) Furnace duct testing and sealing performed by contractors
approved by the local electric or gas utility or certified by
performance tested comfort system, or both.
(2) Sellers of the labor and services under subsection (1) of this
section must keep records necessary for the department to verify
eligibility under this section.
(3) No later than July 1, 2008, the department must create and make
available a detailed list of approved contractors for performing labor
services that meet the requirements of this section.
(4) The definitions in section 2 of this act apply to this section.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5 A new section is added to chapter 82.12 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) The provisions of this chapter do not apply to the use of labor
and services associated with the following:
(a) Optimizing heat pump efficiency by testing and correcting for
the proper amount of refrigerant charge and airflow; and
(b) Furnace duct testing and sealing performed by contractors
approved by the local electric or gas utility or certified by
performance tested comfort system, or both.
(2) Sellers of the labor and services under subsection (1) of this
section must keep records necessary for the department to verify
eligibility under this section.
(3) The definitions in section 2 of this act apply to this section.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6 A new section is added to chapter 82.08 RCW
to read as follows:
The provisions of this chapter do not apply to sales of, or charges
made for, labor and services rendered in respect to repairing,
cleaning, altering, or improving the appliances and equipment listed
under section 2(1) of this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7 A new section is added to chapter 82.12 RCW
to read as follows:
The provisions of this chapter do not apply to the use of labor and
services rendered in respect to repairing, cleaning, altering, or
improving the appliances and equipment listed under section 2(1) of
this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8 This act takes effect July 1, 2008.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9 This act expires June 30, 2010.