BILL REQ. #:  H-0747.1 

Read first time 01/28/2005.   Referred to Committee on Finance.

     AN ACT Relating to multiyear excess property tax levies; amending RCW 84.52.053, 84.52.054, and 84.52.130; repealing RCW 84.52.052; and providing a contingent effective date.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 84.52.053 and 1997 c 260 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     ((The limitations imposed by RCW 84.52.050 through 84.52.056, and 84.52.043 shall not prevent the levy of taxes by school districts,)) A school district may levy excess property taxes when authorized so to do by the voters of ((such)) the school district in ((the manner and for the purposes and number of years allowable under)) accordance with Article VII, section 2(a) of the Constitution of this state. Elections for such taxes shall be held in the year in which the levy is made or, in the case of propositions authorizing two-year through four-year levies for maintenance and operation support of a school district, authorizing two-year levies for transportation vehicle funds established in RCW 28A.160.130, or authorizing two-year through six-year levies to support the construction, modernization, or remodeling of school facilities, in the year in which the first annual levy is made: PROVIDED, That once additional tax levies have been authorized for maintenance and operation support of a school district for a two-year through four-year period, no further additional tax levies for maintenance and operation support of the district for that period may be authorized.
     A special election may be called and the time therefor fixed by the board of school directors, by giving notice thereof by publication in the manner provided by law for giving notices of general elections, at which special election the proposition authorizing such excess levy shall be submitted in such form as to enable the voters favoring the proposition to vote "yes" and those opposed thereto to vote "no".

Sec. 2   RCW 84.52.054 and 1986 c 133 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     The ((additional tax provided for in subparagraph (a) of the seventeenth amendment to the state Constitution as amended by Amendment 59 and as thereafter amended, and specifically authorized by RCW 84.52.052, as now or hereafter amended, and RCW 84.52.053 and 84.52.0531)) excess property tax levies authorized under Article VII, section 2(a) of the Constitution of this state and RCW 84.52.053 or 84.52.130, shall be set forth in terms of dollars on the ballot of the proposition to be submitted to the voters, together with an estimate of the dollar rate of tax levy that will be required to produce the dollar amount; and the county assessor, in spreading this tax upon the rolls, shall determine the eventual dollar rate required to produce the amount of dollars so voted upon, regardless of the estimate of dollar rate of tax levy carried in said proposition. In the case of a school district proposition for a particular period, the dollar amount and the corresponding estimate of the dollar rate of tax levy shall be set forth for each of the years in that period. The dollar amount for each annual levy in the particular period may be equal or in different amounts.

Sec. 3   RCW 84.52.130 and 2002 c 180 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The ((limitations imposed by RCW 84.52.050 through 84.52.056, and 84.52.043)) regular property tax limitations provided for in this chapter and chapter 84.55 RCW shall not prevent the levy of excess taxes by a ((fire protection)) taxing district, when authorized so to do by the voters of ((a fire protection)) the taxing district in the manner and for the purposes and number of years allowable under Article VII, section 2(a) of the Constitution of this state.
     (2) Elections for taxes shall be held in the year in which the levy is made, or in the case of propositions authorizing two-year through four-year levies for maintenance and operation support of a ((fire)) taxing district, or authorizing two-year through six-year levies to support the construction, modernization, or remodeling of ((fire)) taxing district facilities, in the year in which the first annual levy is made. Once additional tax levies have been authorized for maintenance and operation support of a ((fire protection)) taxing district for a two-year through four-year period, no further additional tax levies for maintenance and operation support of the district for that period may be authorized.
     (3) A special election may be called and the time fixed by the ((fire protection district commissioners)) legislative or governing body of the taxing district, by giving notice by publication in the manner provided by law for giving notices of general elections, at which special election the proposition authorizing the excess levy shall be submitted in a form as to enable the voters favoring the proposition to vote "yes" and those opposed to vote "no."
     (4) For the purposes of this section, "taxing district" has the same meaning as provided in Article VII, section 2 of the Constitution of this state, except it does not include school districts.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   RCW 84.52.052 (Excess levies authorized--When -- Procedure) and 2004 c 129 s 22 & 2003 c 83 s 312 are each repealed.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   This act takes effect January 1, 2006, if the proposed amendment to Article VII of the state Constitution authorizing multiyear excess property tax levies (HJR ....) is validly submitted to and is approved and ratified by the voters at the next general election. If the proposed amendment is not approved and ratified, this act is void in its entirety.