BILL REQ. #:  H-3541.1 

Read first time 01/17/12.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     AN ACT Relating to the taxing authority of public facilities districts; and amending RCW 82.14.390.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 82.14.390 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 50 s 973 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Except as provided in subsection (7) of this section, the governing body of a public facilities district (a) created before July 31, 2002, under chapter 35.57 or 36.100 RCW that ((commences)) commenced construction of a new regional center, or improvement or rehabilitation of an existing new regional center, before January 1, 2004; (b) created before July 1, 2006, under chapter 35.57 RCW in a county or counties in which there are no other public facilities districts on June 7, 2006, and in which the total population in the public facilities district is greater than ninety thousand that ((commences)) commenced construction of a new regional center before February 1, 2007; (c) created under the authority of RCW 35.57.010(1)(d); or (d) created before September 1, 2007, under chapter 35.57 or 36.100 RCW, in a county or counties in which there are no other public facilities districts on July 22, 2007, and in which the total population in the public facilities district is greater than seventy thousand, that ((commences)) commenced construction of a new regional center before January 1, 2009, or before January 1, 2011, in the case of a new regional center in a county designated by the president as a disaster area in December 2007, may impose a sales and use tax in accordance with the terms of this chapter. The tax is in addition to other taxes authorized by law and must be collected from those persons who are taxable by the state under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW upon the occurrence of any taxable event within the public facilities district. The rate of tax may not exceed 0.033 percent of the selling price in the case of a sales tax or value of the article used in the case of a use tax.
     (2)(a) The governing body of a public facilities district imposing a sales and use tax under the authority of this section may increase the rate of tax up to 0.037 percent if, within three fiscal years of July 1, 2008, the department determines that, as a result of RCW 82.14.490 and the chapter 6, Laws of 2007 amendments to RCW 82.14.020, a public facilities district's sales and use tax collections for fiscal years after July 1, 2008, have been reduced by a net loss of at least 0.50 percent from the fiscal year before July 1, 2008. The fiscal year in which this section becomes effective is the first fiscal year after July 1, 2008.
     (b) The department must determine sales and use tax collection net losses under this section as provided in RCW 82.14.500 (2) and (3). The department must provide written notice of its determinations to public facilities districts. Determinations by the department of a public facilities district's sales and use tax collection net losses as a result of RCW 82.14.490 and the chapter 6, Laws of 2007 amendments to RCW 82.14.020 are final and not appealable.
     (c) A public facilities district may increase its rate of tax after it has received written notice from the department as provided in (b) of this subsection. The increase in the rate of tax must be made in 0.001 percent increments and must be the least amount necessary to mitigate the net loss in sales and use tax collections as a result of RCW 82.14.490 and the chapter 6, Laws of 2007 amendments to RCW 82.14.020. The increase in the rate of tax is subject to RCW 82.14.055.
     (3) The tax imposed under subsection (1) of this section must be deducted from the amount of tax otherwise required to be collected or paid over to the department of revenue under chapter 82.08 or 82.12 RCW. The department of revenue must perform the collection of such taxes on behalf of the county at no cost to the public facilities district. During the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium, distributions by the state to a public facilities district based on the additional rate authorized in subsection (2) of this section must be reduced by 3.4 percent.
     (4) No tax may be collected under this section before August 1, 2000. The tax imposed in this section expires when the bonds issued for the construction, improvement, rehabilitation, or expansion of the regional center and related parking facilities are retired, but not more than ((twenty-five)) forty years after the tax is first collected.
     (5) Moneys collected under this section may only be used for the purposes set forth in RCW 35.57.020 and must be matched with an amount from other public or private sources equal to thirty-three percent of the amount collected under this section; however, amounts generated from nonvoter approved taxes authorized under chapter 35.57 RCW or nonvoter approved taxes authorized under chapter 36.100 RCW do not constitute a public or private source. For the purpose of this section, public or private sources includes, but is not limited to cash or in-kind contributions used in all phases of the development or improvement of the regional center, land that is donated and used for the siting of the regional center, cash or in-kind contributions from public or private foundations, or amounts attributed to private sector partners as part of a public and private partnership agreement negotiated by the public facilities district.
     (6) The combined total tax levied under this section may not be greater than 0.037 percent. If both a public facilities district created under chapter 35.57 RCW and a public facilities district created under chapter 36.100 RCW impose a tax under this section, the tax imposed by a public facilities district created under chapter 35.57 RCW must be credited against the tax imposed by a public facilities district created under chapter 36.100 RCW.
     (7) A public facilities district created under chapter 36.100 RCW is not eligible to impose the tax under this section if the legislative authority of the county where the public facilities district is located has imposed a sales and use tax under RCW 82.14.0485 or 82.14.0494.