HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1066

BYRepresentatives Jones, Hargrove, Crane, Walker, Cole, Basich, Patrick and Wineberry; by request of Employment Security Department

Appropriating money for an employment security office building in Port Angeles.

House Committe on Capital Facilities & Financing

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (11)

      Signed by Representatives H. Sommers, Chair; Rasmussen, Vice Chair; Schoon, Ranking Republican Member; Betrozoff, Bowman, Braddock, Bristow, Fraser, Jacobsen, Wang and Winsley.

House Staff:Bill Robinson (786-7136)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 13, 1989

BACKGROUND:

Section 903(C) of the Federal Social Security Act, commonly referred to as the Reed Act, permits the use of federal funds for administrative purposes.  The federal government encourages the use of these Reed Act funds for construction of office buildings for use by state employment security agencies.  The Reed Act funds represent non-interest bearing loans to be amortized in annual payments from normal federal administrative grants.  Such loan payments to the Reed Act account are then available for re-use by the state for administrative purposes, provided the loans were used to purchase real estate.

In the 1987-89 state capital budget, the Legislature appropriated $660,000 of the Reed Act funds to upgrade the job service center in Port Angeles as part of a state-wide program for improving employment security centers.  However, the Port Angeles project was never completed because of federal budget reductions and changes in the Department of Employment Security's priority for projects in the state-wide program.  The federal funds are now available for the Port Angeles job service center.

SUMMARY:

$900,000 is appropriated from the unemployment compensation administration fund for purchasing land and constructing an office building in Port Angeles for use by the Department of Employment Security.  The appropriation will expire after two years from the effective date of the act and is subject to the provisions of section 903(C)(2) of the federal Social Security Act.

Appropriation:    $900,000 from the unemployment compensation administration fund (funded by the federal Social Security Act).

Fiscal Note:      Requested February 13, 1989.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Representative Evan Jones; Graeme Sackrison and Bill Croft, Department of Employment Security.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    The current facility is in need of repair, it no longer serves the needs of the department, and the lease will expire in 1991.  A new facility in Port Angeles is now the highest priority of the department and Federal funds are available for construction of the new job service center to better serve the public in the Port Angeles area.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.