FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 1080

C 86 L 10

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Allowing impact fees to be used for all fire protection facilities.

Sponsors: Representatives Simpson and Williams.

House Committee on Local Government & Housing

Senate Committee on Government Operations & Elections

Background:

Impact Fees.Counties, cities, and towns that plan under the major provisions of the Growth Management Act are authorized to impose impact fees on development activity as part of the financing of public facilities. Impact fees are payments of money required of developers as a condition of development approval. Local governments are required to use impact fees to pay for certain public facilities that are made necessary as the result of a development and must ensure that such fees are:

• used only for system improvements that are reasonably related to the impact of the development on the use of public facilities;

• do not exceed a proportionate share of the cost of system improvements made necessary by the development; and

• are used for system improvements that reasonably benefit the new development.

In determining how system improvements are to be financed, a local government must provide for a balance between impact fees and other sources of public funds and may not rely solely on impact fees. Additionally, local ordinances must also include a fee schedule for each type of development activity subject to impact fees, specifying the amount of the impact fee to be imposed for each type of system improvement. The schedule must be based upon a formula or other method of calculating the prorated impact fee.

The types of "public facilities" that may receive funding from impact fees are limited to specified types of capital facilities owned or operated by government entities. Such public facilities are the following:

• public streets and roads;

• publicly owned parks, open spaces, and recreation facilities;

• school facilities; and

• fire protection facilities in jurisdictions that are not part of a fire district.

Fire Protection Districts.

Fire protection districts are created to provide fire and emergency services to protect life and property in locales outside of cities and towns. A fire protection district may be established through a process involving a petition by the residents of a proposed district, a public hearing, and voter approval.

Summary:

The definition of "public facilities" for which impact fees may be collected and spent is modified to include all fire protection facilities, rather than only fire protection facilities in jurisdictions that are not part of a fire district.

Votes on Final Passage: