BILL REQ. #:  S-3505.2 

Read first time 01/14/10.   Referred to Committee on Environment, Water & Energy.

     AN ACT Relating to coordinating the weatherization and structural rehabilitation of residential structures; and amending RCW 70.164.010, 70.164.030, 70.164.040, and 70.164.070.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 70.164.010 and 1987 c 36 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature finds and declares that weatherization of the residences of low-income households will help conserve energy resources in this state and can reduce the need to obtain energy from more costly conventional energy resources. The legislature also finds that ((rising energy costs have made it difficult for low-income citizens of the state to afford adequate fuel for residential space heat. Weatherization of residences will lower energy consumption, making space heat more affordable for persons in low-income households. It will also reduce the uncollectible accounts of fuel suppliers resulting from low-income customers not being able to pay fuel bills.)) while many efforts have been made by the federal government and by the state, including its cities, counties, and utilities, to increase both the habitability and the energy efficiency of residential structures within the state, stronger coordination of these efforts will result in even greater energy efficiencies, increased cost savings to the state's residents in the form of lower utility bills, improvements in health and safety, lower greenhouse gas emissions and associated climate impacts, as well as increased employment for the state's workforce.
     (2) Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature that state funds be dedicated to weatherization and energy efficiency activities as well as the moderate to significant repair and rehabilitation of residential structures that are required as a necessary antecedent to those activities.
     (3) The program implementing the policy of this chapter is necessary to support the poor and infirm and also to benefit the health, safety, and general welfare of all citizens of the state.

Sec. 2   RCW 70.164.030 and 1991 sp.s. c 13 s 62 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The low-income weatherization and structural rehabilitation assistance account is created in the state treasury. All moneys from the money distributed to the state pursuant to Exxon v. United States, 561 F.Supp. 816 (1983), affirmed 773 F.2d 1240 (1985), or any other oil overcharge settlements or judgments distributed by the federal government, that are allocated to the low-income weatherization and structural rehabilitation assistance account shall be deposited in the account. The department may accept such gifts, grants, and endowments from public or private sources as may be made from time to time, in trust or otherwise, and shall deposit such funds in the account. Any moneys received from sponsor match payments shall be deposited in the account. The legislature may also appropriate moneys to the account. Moneys in the account shall be spent pursuant to appropriation and only for the purposes and in the manner provided in RCW 70.164.040. Any moneys appropriated that are not spent by the department shall return to the account.
     (2) The purposes of the low-income weatherization and structural rehabilitation assistance account are to:
     (a) Maximize the number of energy efficient residential structures in the state;
     (b) Achieve the greatest possible expected monetary and energy savings by low-income households and other energy consumers over the longest period of time;
     (c) Identify and correct, to the extent practicable, health and safety problems for residents of low-income households, including asbestos, lead, and mold hazards;
     (d) Leverage the many available state and federal programs aimed at increasing the quality and energy efficiency of low-income residences in the state;
     (e) Create family-wage jobs that may lead to careers in the construction trades or in the energy efficiency sectors; and
     (f) Leverage, to the extent feasible, sustainable technologies, practices, and designs, including renewable energy systems.

Sec. 3   RCW 70.164.040 and 2009 c 379 s 202 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall solicit proposals for low-income weatherization programs from potential sponsors. A proposal shall state the amount of the sponsor match, the amount requested, the name of the weatherizing agency, and any other information required by the department.
     (2)(a) A sponsor may use its own moneys, including corporate or ratepayer moneys, or moneys provided by landlords, charitable groups, government programs, the Bonneville power administration, or other sources to pay the sponsor match.
     (b) Moneys provided by a sponsor pursuant to requirements in this section shall be in addition to and shall not supplant any funding for low-income weatherization that would otherwise have been provided by the sponsor or any other entity enumerated in (a) of this subsection.
     (c) No proposal may require any contribution as a condition of weatherization from any household whose residence is weatherized under the proposal.
     (d) Proposals shall provide that full levels of all cost-effective, structurally feasible, sustainable residential weatherization materials, measures, and practices, as determined by the department, shall be installed when a low-income residence is weatherized.
     (3)(a) The department may in its discretion accept, accept in part, or reject proposals submitted. The department shall prioritize projects that utilize funding from related federal energy efficiency programs including, but not limited to, the weatherization assistance program, the energy efficiency and conservation block grant program, residential energy efficiency components of the state energy program, and the retrofit ramp-up program.
     (b) After making a determination of cost-effectiveness, the department shall first allocate state funds appropriated from the low-income weatherization and structural rehabilitation assistance account to provide funding for homes that only require low-cost repair and rehabilitation as a necessary prerequisite to weatherization improvements. If there are sufficient funds available, state funds may be used for substantial rehabilitation as a necessary prerequisite to weatherization improvements.
     (c) The department shall then allocate either sponsor funds, state funds, or both, appropriated from the low-income weatherization and structural rehabilitation assistance account primarily for energy efficiency and weatherization activities among proposals accepted or accepted in part ((so as to:
     (i) Achieve the greatest possible expected monetary and energy savings by low-income households and other energy consumers over the longest period of time;
     (ii) Identify and correct, to the extent practical, health and safety problems for residents of low-income households, including asbestos, lead, and mold hazards;
     (iii) Create family-wage jobs that may lead to careers in the construction trades or in the energy efficiency sectors; and
     (iv) Leverage, to the extent feasible, environmentally friendly sustainable technologies, practices, and designs)).
     (((b))) (d) The department shall, to the extent feasible, ensure a balance of participation in proportion to population among low-income households for: (i) Geographic regions in the state; (ii) types of fuel used for heating, except that the department shall encourage the use of energy efficient sustainable technologies; (iii) owner-occupied and rental residences; and (iv) single-family and multifamily dwellings.
     (((c))) (e) The department shall give priority to the structural rehabilitation and weatherization of dwelling units occupied by low-income households with incomes at or below one hundred twenty-five percent of the federally established poverty level.
     (((d))) (f) The department may allocate funds to a nonutility sponsor without requiring a sponsor match if the department determines that such an allocation is necessary to provide the greatest benefits to low-income residents of the state.
     (((e))) (g) The department shall require ((sponsors)) weatherizing agencies to employ individuals trained from workforce training and apprentice programs established under chapter 536, Laws of 2009 if these workers are available, pay prevailing wages under chapter 39.12 RCW, hire from the community in which the program is located, and create employment opportunities for veterans, members of the national guard, and low-income and disadvantaged populations.
     (4)(a) A sponsor may elect to: (i) Pay a sponsor match as a lump sum at the time of structural rehabilitation or weatherization((,)); or (ii) make yearly payments to the low-income weatherization and structural rehabilitation assistance account over a period not to exceed ten years. If a sponsor elects to make yearly payments, the value of the payments shall not be less than the value of the lump sum payment that would have been made under (a)(i) of this subsection.
     (b) The department may permit a sponsor to meet its match requirement in whole or in part through providing labor, materials, or other in-kind expenditures.
     (5) ((Programs)) Service providers receiving funding under this section must report to the department ((every six months following the receipt of a grant regarding the number of dwelling units)) at least quarterly, or in alignment with federal reporting, whichever is the greater frequency, the number of dwelling units repaired, rehabilitated, and weatherized, the number of jobs created or maintained, and the number of individuals trained through workforce training and apprentice programs((, with the last report submitted six months after program completion)). The director of the department shall review the accuracy of these reports.
     (6) The department shall adopt rules to carry out this section.

Sec. 4   RCW 70.164.070 and 1987 c 36 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:
     Payments to the low-income weatherization and structural rehabilitation assistance account shall be treated, for purposes of state law, as payments for energy conservation and shall be eligible for any tax credits or deductions, equity returns, or other benefits for which conservation investments are eligible.