| Passed by the House February 23, 2007 Yeas 93 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 6, 2007 Yeas 48 ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Richard Nafziger, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 1676 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 60th Legislature | 2007 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/24/2007. Referred to Committee on Technology, Energy & Communications.
AN ACT Relating to allowing public utility districts to disburse low-income energy assistance contributions; and amending RCW 54.52.010 and 54.52.020.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 54.52.010 and 1995 c 399 s 145 are each amended to
read as follows:
A public utility district may include along with, or as part of its
regular customer billings, a request for voluntary contributions to
assist qualified low-income residential customers of the district in
paying their electricity bills. All funds received by the district in
response to such requests shall be (1) transmitted (a) to the grantee
of the department of community, trade, and economic development which
administers federally funded energy assistance programs for the state
in the district's service area or (b) to a charitable organization
within the district's service area; or (2) retained by the district.
All such funds shall be used solely to supplement assistance to low-income residential customers of the district in paying their
electricity bills. The grantee ((or)), charitable organization ((shall
be)), or district is responsible to determine which of the district's
customers are qualified for low-income assistance and the amount of
assistance to be provided to those who are qualified.
Sec. 2 RCW 54.52.020 and 1995 c 399 s 146 are each amended to
read as follows:
All assistance provided under this chapter shall be disbursed by
the grantee ((or)), charitable organization, or district. ((Where
possible)) When applicable, the public utility district will be paid on
behalf of the customer by the grantee or the charitable organization.
When direct vendor payment is not feasible, a check will be issued
jointly payable to the customer and the public utility district. The
availability of funds for assistance to a district's low-income
customers as a result of voluntary contributions shall not reduce the
amount of assistance for which the district's customers are eligible
under the federally funded energy assistance programs administered by
the grantee of the department of community, trade, and economic
development within the district's service area. When applicable, the
grantee or charitable organization shall provide the district with a
quarterly report on January 15th, April 15th, July 15th, and October
15th which includes information concerning the total amount of funds
received from the district, the names of all recipients of assistance
from these funds, the amount received by each recipient, and the amount
of funds received from the district currently on hand and available for
future low-income assistance.