BILL REQ. #:  H-3715.3 

Prefiled 01/07/08. Read first time 01/14/08.   Referred to Committee on Community & Economic Development & Trade.

     AN ACT Relating to modifying the definitions of rural county for certain economic development programs; and amending RCW 43.160.020.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 43.160.020 and 2004 c 252 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Board" means the community economic revitalization board.
     (2) "Bond" means any bond, note, debenture, interim certificate, or other evidence of financial indebtedness issued by the board pursuant to this chapter.
     (3) "Department" means the department of community, trade, and economic development.
     (4) "Financial institution" means any bank, savings and loan association, credit union, development credit corporation, insurance company, investment company, trust company, savings institution, or other financial institution approved by the board and maintaining an office in the state.
     (5) "Industrial development facilities" means "industrial development facilities" as defined in RCW 39.84.020.
     (6) "Industrial development revenue bonds" means tax-exempt revenue bonds used to fund industrial development facilities.
     (7) "Local government" or "political subdivision" means any port district, county, city, town, special purpose district, and any other municipal corporations or quasi-municipal corporations in the state providing for public facilities under this chapter.
     (8) "Sponsor" means any of the following entities which customarily provide service or otherwise aid in industrial or other financing and are approved as a sponsor by the board: A bank, trust company, savings bank, investment bank, national banking association, savings and loan association, building and loan association, credit union, insurance company, or any other financial institution, governmental agency, or holding company of any entity specified in this subsection.
     (9) "Umbrella bonds" means industrial development revenue bonds from which the proceeds are loaned, transferred, or otherwise made available to two or more users under this chapter.
     (10) "User" means one or more persons acting as lessee, purchaser, mortgagor, or borrower under a financing document and receiving or applying to receive revenues from bonds issued under this chapter.
     (11) "Public facilities" means a project of a local government or a federally recognized Indian tribe for the planning, acquisition, construction, repair, reconstruction, replacement, rehabilitation, or improvement of bridges, roads, domestic and industrial water, earth stabilization, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, railroad, electricity, telecommunications, transportation, natural gas, buildings or structures, and port facilities, all for the purpose of job creation, job retention, or job expansion.
     (12) "Rural county" means a county with a population density of fewer than one hundred persons per square mile or a county smaller than two hundred twenty-five square miles, as determined by the office of financial management and published each year by the department for the period of July 1st to June 30th.
     (13) "Rural natural resources impact area" means:
     (a) A nonmetropolitan county, as defined by the 1990 decennial census, that meets three of the five criteria set forth in subsection (14) of this section;
     (b) A nonmetropolitan county with a population of less than forty thousand in the 1990 decennial census, that meets two of the five criteria as set forth in subsection (14) of this section; or
     (c) A nonurbanized area, as defined by the 1990 decennial census, that is located in a metropolitan county that meets three of the five criteria set forth in subsection (14) of this section.
     (14) For the purposes of designating rural natural resources impact areas, the following criteria shall be considered:
     (a) A lumber and wood products employment location quotient at or above the state average;
     (b) A commercial salmon fishing employment location quotient at or above the state average;
     (c) Projected or actual direct lumber and wood products job losses of one hundred positions or more;
     (d) Projected or actual direct commercial salmon fishing job losses of one hundred positions or more; and
     (e) An unemployment rate twenty percent or more above the state average. The counties that meet these criteria shall be determined by the employment security department for the most recent year for which data is available. For the purposes of administration of programs under this chapter, the United States post office five-digit zip code delivery areas will be used to determine residence status for eligibility purposes. For the purpose of this definition, a zip code delivery area of which any part is ten miles or more from an urbanized area is considered nonurbanized. A zip code totally surrounded by zip codes qualifying as nonurbanized under this definition is also considered nonurbanized. The office of financial management shall make available a zip code listing of the areas to all agencies and organizations providing services under this chapter.