(1) The intent of the tax exemption provided in RCW
82.08.956 and
82.12.956 is to promote the retention of relatively high wage jobs in the counties where facilities who purchase and use hog fuel are located. Specifically, in a time when there is increasing pressure to close industrial facilities like mills and relocate this economic activity out of state or overseas, rural areas of the state are at risk of losing critical jobs that directly, or indirectly, support entire communities. The legislature, in enacting the hog fuel tax exemption, hopes to retain seventy five percent of the jobs at each facility in the state at which the exemption is claimed, between now and June 30, 2024.
(2) The joint legislative audit and review committee must review the performance through July 1, 2018, of the tax preferences established in RCW
82.08.956 and
82.12.956, and prepare a report to the legislature by October 31, 2019.
(3) The department of revenue must provide the committee with annual survey information and any other tax data necessary to conduct the review required in subsection (2) of this section. The employment security department and other agencies, as requested, must cooperate with the committee by providing information about the average wage of employment in the county where each facility owned or operated by a company claiming the exemption is located. The report is not limited to, but must include, the following information:
(a) Identification of the baseline number of jobs existing as of January 1, 2013, in facilities where the preference has been claimed, as well as related wage and benefit information;
(b) Identification of how the number of jobs at these facilities has changed during the duration of the credit;
(c) Analysis of how the wages provided to employees at affected facilities compare to the average wages in the county in which the facility is located;
(d) Analysis of how the benefits, including medical and other health care benefits, provided to employees at affected facilities compare to the average wages in the county in which the facility is located; and
(e) Whether and to what extent the goal has been achieved, of retaining seventy-five percent of employment at the facilities at which the exemption has been claimed.
(4) This section expires June 30, 2024.