FINAL BILL REPORT

SHB 2956

                                   C 21 L 90

BYHouse Committee on Energy & Utilities (originally sponsored by Representatives Nelson, Miller, Jesernig, Sprenkle, May, Grant, Cooper, Hankins, Dellwo, Baugher, R. Meyers, Rust, Brooks, Holland, Appelwick, Moyer, Ballard, Prince, Bennett, Dorn, Jacobsen, Valle, Crane, Brumsickle, Ebersole, Fuhrman, Van Luven, Horn, Rector and Silver; by request of Office of Financial Management)

Revising provisions for the management of low-level radioactive waste.

House Committe on Energy & Utilities

Rereferred House Committee on Revenue

Senate Committee on Energy & Utilities

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

Federal law provides individual states or interstate compacts the authority to manage low-level radioactive waste.  Washington is in the seven state Northwest Compact and is the host state for the disposal site located on the Hanford Reservation near Richland.

In order to prompt states to set up their own or regional disposal arrangements, the same federal law allows a host state to impose a surcharge on waste received from outside the state or outside the compact.  The Legislature has authorized the governor to impose the maximum surcharges authorized by federal law.  All out of region surcharge receipts go into the general fund.

The Legislature has established perpetual care and closure accounts within the perpetual maintenance fund as insurance against the state having to pay for site closure or post-closure surveillance of the low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.  The care account is believed to be sufficient, but the closure account is not sufficient to pay for the estimated closure costs.  A fee of $1.75 is imposed on each cubic foot of waste disposed at the Hanford site.  The revenue is placed into the fund containing both of these accounts.  Current law required that revenue to the fund be credited to the closure account until December 31, 1992.

Beginning in 1993, the Northwest Compact may prohibit disposal of out of region waste at the Hanford facility.  Washington law prohibits the Washington representative to the compact from agreeing to accept out of region waste unless there is no other feasible alternative available.

The Department of Health regulates the disposal site operator.  A surveillance fee, imposed on each cubic foot of waste disposed, is charged to pay the cost of regulation.  The fee may not exceed 4 percent of the basic minimum fee charged by the operator of the disposal facility.  Since the volume of waste disposed at the facility has been declining, the revenue generated by the surveillance fee is no longer adequate to support the cost of regulation.

A business and occupation tax of 30 percent is imposed on the gross income of any person engaged in the business of disposing of low-level waste in this state.

SUMMARY:

The business and occupation tax on persons engaging in the disposal of low-level waste is reduced to 15 percent.  If the Legislature adopts additional legislation governing the disposal of low-level waste, the tax rate will be further reduced to 10 percent and then to 5 percent.

The first $10 per cubic foot of the out of region surcharge is deposited to the site closure account in the perpetual maintenance fund.  The remainder of the surcharge is deposited in the general fund.

After 1992, the Washington state representative may authorize disposal of out of region waste only from the current members of the Rocky Mountain Compact - Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada - and from the states contiguous to the Northwest Compact that generate less than 1,000 cubic feet of waste annually, or currently North Dakota and South Dakota.

Interest earned on the perpetual maintenance fund as well as future payments to the maintenance fund shall be directed into the site closure account until December 31, 1992.

Beginning January 1, 1993, the Department of Ecology, if necessary, may impose a site closure fee until the closure account has sufficient funds to complete the closure plan provided by the Department of Health.

The surveillance fee imposed by the Department of Health to pay regulation costs is raised in three annual steps from 4 percent to 7 percent in 1992.

The Utilities and Transportation Commission and the site operator, assisted by other state agencies and parties, shall study the need for procedures to assure that the site operator's rates are fair, considering the unique nature of the business.  Results of the study shall be reported to the Legislature by December 1, 1990. If the Legislature authorizes the commission to regulate the operator's rates, the new rates shall not take effect until January 1, 1993.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

      House 98   0

      Senate    46     0

EFFECTIVE:March 13, 1990