READ FIRST TIME 02/12/08.   

     AN ACT Relating to a sales and use tax exemption for environmentally certified residential and commercial construction; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1)(a) The legislature finds that green building, also called "sustainable" or "high-performance" building, has significant environmental benefits. Buildings consume thirty-six percent of the energy used in the United States, more than factories and automobiles, and they generate thirty percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. The construction of commercial, residential, public, or institutional buildings using energy-efficient techniques and environmentally sustainable products also connects to the state's climate change goals.
     (b) The legislature further finds that standards for green building provide an effective framework for green building practices. Some techniques have been shown to reduce building energy costs by twenty to fifty percent and water usage by at least fifty percent outdoors and thirty percent indoors. It is in the interest of the state to encourage the best green building practices through targeted incentives and policies.
     (c) The legislature intends to establish a connection between green construction and the need for local governments to adopt "green" land use provisions, permitting standards, and building codes that allow green building, in order to achieve the most effective climate change policies.
     (2) The department of community, trade, and economic development shall conduct a study to determine the potential feasibility and effectiveness of providing tax incentives to encourage green building in commercial, residential, and public buildings. The department of revenue shall provide any tax-related data necessary for the department of community, trade, and economic development to perform the study.
     (3) In conducting the study, the department of community, trade, and economic development shall:
     (a) Identify existing tax incentives with the primary purpose of encouraging green building;
     (b) Propose tax incentives that would encourage green building, with special emphasis on sales and use tax exemptions on green building construction activities and business and occupation tax incentives for contractors or architects that build or design green buildings;
     (c) Provide an estimate on the fiscal cost for each tax incentive identified under (b) of this subsection;
     (d) Provide an estimate of cost savings and emission reductions for the estimated number of buildings that would qualify for a tax incentive identified under (b) of this subsection;
     (e) Recommend other tax and programmatic policy changes that would encourage green building;
     (f) Evaluate whether tax incentives should target communities that encourage green building; and
     (g) Evaluate current trends in green building and whether tax incentives would support these trends.
     (4) The department of community, trade, and economic development may include any other information in the study that it deems necessary for the legislative evaluation of potential tax incentives to encourage green building.
     (5) By December 1, 2008, the department of community, trade, and economic development shall report its findings and recommendations to the appropriate committees of the legislature.