BILL REQ. #:  S-2210.1 

Read first time 02/27/2007.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     AN ACT Relating to eminent domain payments and compensation; amending RCW 8.26.055; and adding a new section to chapter 8.28 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 8.28 RCW to read as follows:
     For all condemnation proceedings under this title, the owner of a building may recover from the acquiring agency lost income from existing leases that are cancelled or not renewed as a result of the condemnation proceeding. To recover lost income under this section, the existing lease must be in effect before notice of the condemnation proceeding is delivered to the owner of the building.

Sec. 2   RCW 8.26.055 and 1988 c 90 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) In addition to amounts otherwise authorized by this chapter, a displacing agency shall make a payment to or for a displaced person displaced from a dwelling not eligible to receive a payment under RCW 8.26.045 if the dwelling was actually and lawfully occupied by the displaced person for not less than ninety days immediately before (a) the initiation of negotiations for acquisition of the dwelling, or (b) in any case in which displacement is not a direct result of acquisition, such other event as the lead agency prescribes. The payment shall consist of the amount necessary to enable the person to lease or rent for a period not to exceed forty-two months, a comparable replacement dwelling, but not to exceed five thousand two hundred fifty dollars; however, the payment must at least cover the difference in lease amounts between the displaced person's dwelling and a comparable replacement dwelling for the length of time that the displaced person has been displaced from his or her dwelling. At the discretion of the displacing agency, a payment under this subsection may be made in periodic installments. Computation of a payment under this subsection to a low-income displaced person for a comparable replacement dwelling shall take into account the person's income.
     (2) A person eligible for a payment under subsection (1) of this section may elect to apply the payment to a down payment on, and other incidental expenses pursuant to, the purchase of a decent, safe, and sanitary replacement dwelling. The person may, at the discretion of the displacing agency, be eligible under this subsection for the maximum payment allowed under subsection (1) of this section, except that, in the case of a displaced homeowner who has owned and occupied the displacement dwelling for at least ninety days but not more than one hundred eighty days immediately before the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the dwelling, the payment shall not exceed the payment the person would otherwise have received under RCW 8.26.045(1) had the person owned and occupied the displacement dwelling one hundred eighty days immediately before the initiation of the negotiations.