BILL REQ. #:  S-3453.1 

Read first time 01/12/10.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Rural Economic Development.

     AN ACT Relating to a property tax exemption for church property used by a nonprofit organization conducting activities related to a farmers market; amending RCW 84.36.020; 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)) is exempt from taxation:
     (1) 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;
     (2) All churches, personal property, and the ground, not exceeding five acres in area, upon which a church of any nonprofit recognized religious denomination is or ((shall)) will 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 includes 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 church, parsonage, convent, and buildings and improvements required for the maintenance and safeguarding of such property, ((shall)) does not exceed the equivalent of one hundred twenty by one hundred twenty feet 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. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, 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)) subsection to a nonprofit organization, association, or corporation, or school for use for an eleemosynary activity ((shall)) or for use for activities related to a farmers market, does not nullify the exemption provided in this ((paragraph)) subsection if the rental income, if any, is reasonable and is devoted solely to the operation and maintenance of the property. For the purposes of this section, "farmers market" means a nonprofit organization, association, or corporation that sponsors a regular assembly of vendors at a defined location for the purpose of promoting the sale of agricultural products grown or produced in this state directly to the consumer.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   This act applies to taxes levied for collection in 2011 and thereafter.