5918-S3

AN ACT Relating to ride-sharing vehicles; adding a new section to chapter 82.04 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 82.16 RCW; creating a new section; prescribing penalties; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. Transportation demand strategies that reduce the number of vehicles on Washington state's highways, roads, and streets, and provide attractive and effective alternatives to single-occupancy travel can improve ambient air quality, conserve fossil fuels, and forestall the need for capital improvements to the state's transportation system. The legislature has required many public and private employers in the state's largest counties to implement transportation demand management programs to reduce the number of single-occupant vehicle travelers during the morning and evening rush hours. The legislature finds that additional transportation demand management strategies are necessary to mitigate the adverse social, environmental, and economic effects of automobile dependency and traffic congestion. While expensive capital improvements, including dedicated busways and commuter rail systems, may be necessary to improve the region's mobility, they are only part of the solution. All public and private entities that attract single-occupant vehicle drivers must develop imaginative and cost-effective ways to encourage walking, bicycling, carpooling, vanpooling, bus riding, and telecommuting. It is the intent of the legislature to revise those portions of state law that inhibit the application of imaginative solutions to the state's transportation mobility problems and to encourage many more public and private employers to adopt effective transportation demand management strategies.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 82.04 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Major employers in the state's eight largest counties affected by the commute trip reduction programs required under RCW 70.94.521 through 70.94.551 who are taxable under this chapter and provide financial incentives to their employees for ride sharing shall be allowed a credit of fifty percent of the amount paid to employees for ride sharing. The credit may not exceed one hundred twenty dollars per year for a two-person carpool, one hundred sixty dollars per year for a three-person carpool, and two hundred dollars per year for a four-person carpool.

(2) Application for tax credit under this chapter may only be made by major employers as defined by RCW 70.94.524 and in the form and manner prescribed by the department.

(3) The director shall on the 25th of February, May, August, and November of each year advise the state treasurer of the amount of credit taken during the preceding calendar quarter ending on the last day of December, March, June, and September, respectively.

(4) On the first of April, July, October, and January of each year, the state treasurer based upon information provided by the department shall deposit a sum equal to the dollar amount of the credit provided under subsection (1) of this section from the air pollution control account to the general fund.

(5) Any person who knowingly makes a false statement of a material fact in the application for a credit under subsection (1) of this section is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 82.16 RCW to read as follows:

(2) Application for tax credit under this chapter may only be made by major employers as defined by RCW 70.94.524 and in the form and manner prescribed by the department.

(5) Any person who knowingly makes a false statement of a material fact in the application for a credit under subsection (1) of this section is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. This act shall expire June 30, 1996.