EHB 1398 -
By Senators Hobbs, Litzow, Fain, Kilmer, Haugen
ADOPTED 03/08/2012
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"Sec. 1 RCW 82.02.060 and 1990 1st ex.s. c 17 s 44 are each
amended to read as follows:
The local ordinance by which impact fees are imposed:
(1) Shall include a schedule of impact fees which shall be adopted
for each type of development activity that is subject to impact fees,
specifying the amount of the impact fee to be imposed for each type of
system improvement. The schedule shall be based upon a formula or
other method of calculating such impact fees. In determining
proportionate share, the formula or other method of calculating impact
fees shall incorporate, among other things, the following:
(a) The cost of public facilities necessitated by new development;
(b) An adjustment to the cost of the public facilities for past or
future payments made or reasonably anticipated to be made by new
development to pay for particular system improvements in the form of
user fees, debt service payments, taxes, or other payments earmarked
for or proratable to the particular system improvement;
(c) The availability of other means of funding public facility
improvements;
(d) The cost of existing public facilities improvements; and
(e) The methods by which public facilities improvements were
financed;
(2) May provide an exemption for low-income housing, and other
development activities with broad public purposes, from these impact
fees, provided that the impact fees for such development activity shall
be paid from public funds other than impact fee accounts;
(3) May provide an exemption from impact fees for low-income
housing. Local governments that grant exemptions for low-income
housing under this subsection (3) may either: Grant a partial
exemption of not more than eighty percent of impact fees, in which case
there is no explicit requirement to pay the exempted portion of the fee
from public funds other than impact fee accounts; or provide a full
waiver, in which case the remaining percentage of the exempted fee must
be paid from public funds other than impact fee accounts. An exemption
for low-income housing granted under subsection (2) of this section or
this subsection (3) must be conditioned upon requiring the developer to
record a covenant that, except as provided otherwise by this
subsection, prohibits using the property for any purpose other than for
low-income housing. At a minimum, the covenant must address price
restrictions and household income limits for the low-income housing,
and that if the property is converted to a use other than for low-income housing, the property owner must pay the applicable impact fees
in effect at the time of conversion. Covenants required by this
subsection must be recorded with the applicable county auditor or
recording officer. A local government granting an exemption under
subsection (2) of this section or this subsection (3) for low-income
housing may not collect revenue lost through granting an exemption by
increasing impact fees unrelated to the exemption. A school district
who receives school impact fees must approve any exemption under
subsection (2) of this section or this subsection (3);
(4) Shall provide a credit for the value of any dedication of land
for, improvement to, or new construction of any system improvements
provided by the developer, to facilities that are identified in the
capital facilities plan and that are required by the county, city, or
town as a condition of approving the development activity;
(((4))) (5) Shall allow the county, city, or town imposing the
impact fees to adjust the standard impact fee at the time the fee is
imposed to consider unusual circumstances in specific cases to ensure
that impact fees are imposed fairly;
(((5))) (6) Shall include a provision for calculating the amount of
the fee to be imposed on a particular development that permits
consideration of studies and data submitted by the developer to adjust
the amount of the fee;
(((6))) (7) Shall establish one or more reasonable service areas
within which it shall calculate and impose impact fees for various land
use categories per unit of development; and
(((7))) (8) May provide for the imposition of an impact fee for
system improvement costs previously incurred by a county, city, or town
to the extent that new growth and development will be served by the
previously constructed improvements provided such fee shall not be
imposed to make up for any system improvement deficiencies.
For purposes of this section, "low-income housing" means housing
with a monthly housing expense, that is no greater than thirty percent
of eighty percent of the median family income adjusted for family size,
for the county where the project is located, as reported by the United
States department of housing and urban development."
EHB 1398 -
By Senators Hobbs, Litzow, Fain, Kilmer, Haugen
On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "fees;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "and amending RCW 82.02.060."
EFFECT: (1) Instead of providing an exemption of up to 60 percent
from the payment of impact fees for low-income housing, local
governments that grant exemptions for low-income housing may either:
(a) Grant a partial exemption of not more than 80 percent of impact
fees, in which case there is no explicit requirement to pay the
exempted fee from public funds other than impact fee accounts; or
(b) Provide a full waiver, in which case the remaining percentage
of the exempted fee must be paid from public funds other than impact
fee accounts.
(2) School districts that receive impact fees must approve any
exemption provided for low-income housing.