BILL REQ. #:  S-3823.1 

Read first time 01/19/10.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     AN ACT Relating to clarifying the applicability of business and occupation tax to conservation programs with the Bonneville power administration; and amending RCW 82.04.310.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 82.04.310 and 2007 c 58 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) This chapter ((shall)) does not apply to any person in respect to a business activity with respect to which tax liability is specifically imposed under the provisions of chapter 82.16 RCW including amounts derived from activities for which a deduction is allowed under RCW 82.16.050.
     (2) This chapter does not apply to amounts received by any person for the sale of electrical energy for resale within or outside the state.
     (3)(a) This chapter does not apply to amounts received by any person for the sale of natural or manufactured gas in a calendar year if that person sells within the United States a total amount of natural or manufactured gas in that calendar year that is no more than twenty percent of the amount of natural or manufactured gas that it consumes within the United States in the same calendar year.
     (b) For purposes of determining whether a person has sold within the United States a total amount of natural or manufactured gas in a calendar year that is no more than twenty percent of the amount of natural or manufactured gas that it consumes within the United States in the same calendar year, the following transfers of gas are not considered to be the sale of natural or manufactured gas:
     (i) The transfer of any natural or manufactured gas as a result of the acquisition of another business, through merger or otherwise; or
     (ii) The transfer of any natural or manufactured gas accomplished solely to comply with federal regulatory requirements imposed on the pipeline transportation of such gas when it is shipped by a third-party manager of a person's pipeline transportation.
     (4) This chapter does not apply to amounts received by any person in the form of credits against power contracts with the Bonneville power administration, or funds provided by the Bonneville power administration, for the purpose of implementing energy conservation programs or demand-side management programs.