AN ACT Relating to call center retention; amending RCW 82.32.805; adding a new section to chapter 39.26 RCW; adding a new chapter to Title 50 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Call center" means a facility or other operation whereby employees receive phone calls or other electronic communication for the purpose of providing customer assistance or other service.

(2) "Employer" means any employer as defined in RCW 50.04.080 that employs, for purposes of a call center: (a) Fifty or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or (b) fifty or more employees who in the aggregate work at least fifteen hundred hours per week, excluding overtime.

(3) "Part-time employee" means an individual in employment for an employer who works for an average of fewer than twenty hours per week or who has been employed for fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the date on which notice is required under section 2 of this act.

(4) "State agency" means any state department, office, division, board, commission, or higher education institution.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) An employer that intends to relocate a call center, or one or more facilities or operating units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent of the call center's or operating unit's total volume when measured against the previous twelve month average call volume of operations or substantially similar operations from the state to a foreign country must notify the commissioner at least one hundred twenty days before such relocation.

(2) An employer that violates subsection (1) of this section is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars for each day of such violation, except that the commissioner may reduce such amount if the governor or the president has declared a state of emergency for the location of the call center.

(3) The commissioner must compile a semiannual list of all employers that have notified the commissioner under subsection (1) of this section and post the list on the employment security department's web site. The commissioner must also distribute the list to all state agencies.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) A call center employer that appears on the list specified in section 2 of this act is ineligible for any tax preference as defined in RCW 43.136.021 for five years after the employer appears on the list.

(2) If the department of revenue finds that a call center employer is ineligible for a tax preference for which a tax preference was claimed after the effective date of this section, the amount of taxes for which a preference was claimed is immediately due. The department of revenue must assess interest, but not penalties, on the taxes for which the employer was not eligible. The interest must be assessed at the rate provided for delinquent excise taxes under chapter 82.32 RCW, is retroactive to the date the tax preference was taken, and accrues until the amount due is paid.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) A call center employer that appears on the list specified in section 2 of this act is ineligible for any direct or indirect grants or loans awarded by a state agency for five years after the employer appears on the list. The employment security department, in consultation with the appropriate state agency, may waive the ineligibility if the employer applying for a grant or loan demonstrates that the lack of the grant or loan would result in substantial job loss in the state or would harm the environment.

(2) If a state agency finds that a call center employer was ineligible under this section for a grant or loan that was awarded after the effective date of this section, the employer must immediately remit the value of the grant or loan.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. State agency contracts for purchases of call center services must provide that the work performed by the contractor or its agents or subcontractors be performed entirely within the state. Contractors or their agents or subcontractors who are performing such work on the effective date of this section must comply with this section within two years of the effective date of this section, except that any call center employees hired after the effective date of this section must perform the work within the state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This chapter does not permit withholding or denial of any payments or benefits under any other law to workers employed by employers that relocate to a foreign country.

(1)(a)(i) Except as otherwise provided in this section, every new tax preference expires on the first day of the calendar year that is subsequent to the calendar year that is ten years from the effective date of the tax preference. With respect to any new property tax exemption, the exemption does not apply to taxes levied for collection beginning in the calendar year that is subsequent to the calendar year that is ten years from the effective date of the tax preference.

(((b)))(ii) A future amendment that expands a tax preference does not extend the tax preference beyond the period provided in this subsection unless an extension is expressly and unambiguously stated in the amendment.

(((2)))(b) Subsection (1)(a) of this section does not apply if legislation creating a new tax preference includes an expiration date for the new tax preference.

(((3)))(c) Subsection (1)(a) of this section does not apply to any existing tax preference that is amended to clarify an ambiguity or correct a technical inconsistency. Future enacted legislation intended to make such clarifications or corrections must explicitly indicate this intent.

(((a)))(i) "New tax preference" means a tax preference that initially takes effect after August 1, 2013, or a tax preference in effect as of August 1, 2013, that is expanded or extended after August 1, 2013, even if the expanding or extending amendment includes any other change to the tax preference.

(((b)))(ii) "Tax preference" has the same meaning as in RCW 43.136.021 with respect to any state tax administered by the department, except does not include the Washington estate and transfer tax in chapter 83.100 RCW.

(((5)))(e) The department must provide written notice to the office of the code reviser of a ten-year expiration date required under this section for a new tax preference.

(2) Call center employers are ineligible for any tax preference and must pay taxes and interest for preferences claimed for which the call center employer was not eligible, as provided in section 3 of this act.

Agency contracts for purchases of call center services must provide that the work be performed in the state as provided in section 5 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.