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                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 3269

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State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Senators McDermott, Moore, McManus and Goltz; by Lieutenant Governor request

Read first time 1/23/85 and referred to Committee on Ways and Means.

AN ACT Relating to cigarette taxes; amending RCW 82.24.025; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 2, chapter 59, Laws of 1979 ex. sess. and RCW 82.24.025 are each amended to read as follows:

          There is hereby levied and there shall be collected by the department of revenue from the persons mentioned in and in the manner provided by this chapter, as now or hereafter amended, an excise tax upon the sale, use, consumption, handling, possession, or distribution of cigarettes in an amount equal to the rate of one mill per cigarette, but the provisions of RCW 82.24.070 allowing dealers compensation for affixing stamps shall not apply to this additional tax.  Instead, wholesalers and retailers subject to the provisions of this chapter shall be allowed as compensation for their services in affixing the stamps for the additional tax required by this section a sum equal to one percent of the value of the stamps for such additional tax purchased or affixed by them.

          All money derived from such tax shall be paid to the state treasurer and credited to the state general fund.  Following legislative appropriation, one hundred fifty one-thousandths mill per cigarette shall be allocated by the department of social and health services on a competitive bid basis to public and private nonprofit nationally recognized academic or research organizations engaged in cancer research or research concerning the effects of smoking on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1985.