H-3061              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 2475

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Representatives Ferguson, Haugen, Horn and Nutley

Read first time 1/12/90 and referred to Committees on Local Government/Capital Facilities & Financing. 1/19/90 on motion referred to Committee on Revenue.

AN ACT Relating to a limitation on license fees and taxes; amending RCW 67.40.100; and creating a new section.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 10, chapter 34, Laws of 1982 as amended by section 25, chapter 1, Laws of 1988 ex. sess. and RCW 67.40.100 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) Except as provided in chapters 67.28 and 82.14 RCW and subsection (2) of this section, after January 1, 1983, no city, town, or county in which the tax under RCW 67.40.090 is imposed may impose a license fee or tax on the act or privilege of engaging in business to furnish lodging by a hotel, rooming house, tourist court, motel, trailer camp, or similar facilities in excess of the rate imposed upon other persons engaged in the business of making sales at retail as that term is defined in chapter 82.04 RCW.

          (2) A city incorporated before January 1, 1982, with a population over sixty thousand located in a county with a population over one million, other than the city of Seattle, may impose a special excise tax  under the following conditions:

          (a) The proceeds of the tax must be used solely for the acquisition, design, ((and)) construction, maintenance, and operation of convention and trade facilities and may be used for and pledged to the payment of bonds, leases, or other obligations issued or incurred for such purposes.

          (b) The legislative body of the city, before imposing the tax, must authorize a complete study and investigation of the desirability and economic feasibility of the proposed convention and trade facilities.

          (c) The rate of the tax shall not exceed three percent.

          (d) The tax shall be imposed on the sale of or charge made for the furnishing of lodging by a hotel, rooming house, tourist court, motel, or trailer camp, and the granting of any similar license to use real property, as distinguished from the renting or leasing of real property, except that no such tax may be levied on any premises having fewer than sixty lodging units.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     This 1990 amendment applies to all proceeds of the tax authorized under RCW 67.40.100(2), regardless of when levied or collected.