CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

Chapter 275, Laws of 2024

2024 REGULAR SESSION

BORDER AREA FUEL TAX—JURISDICTIONS NOT CONNECTED TO CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 6, 2024

Passed by the Senate February 6, 2024 Yeas 49 Nays 0 DENNY HECK President of the Senate Passed by the House February 27, 2024 Yeas 90 Nays 5 LAURIE JINKINS Speaker of the House of Representatives	CERTIFICATE I, Sarah Bannister, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SENATE BILL 6017 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. SARAH BANNISTER Secretary Secretary
Approved March 26, 2024 9:44 AM	FILED March 27, 2024
JAY INSLEE Governor of the State of Washington	Secretary of State State of Washington

Passed Legislature - 2024 Regular Session

2024 Regular Session

BySenators Shewmake, King, Liias, and Nobles

Prefiled 01/05/24.Read first time 01/08/24.Referred to Committee on Transportation.

AN ACT Relating to expanding the use of the border area fuel tax; amending RCW 82.47.030; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature recognizes that the border area fuel tax is not the state gas tax, but rather a local option, voter-approved transportation tax collected locally to be used for local transportation purposes. The legislature finds that because this local option tax is not collected by the state of Washington, it is not subject to the 18th amendment to the Washington state Constitution and is therefore not required to be used exclusively for highway purposes. The legislature further finds that during the global COVID-19 pandemic, border areas were disproportionately hurt economically due to border closures and experienced significant reductions in tax revenues. The legislature further recognizes that current law significantly restricts the use of the border area fuel tax to street maintenance and construction. For example, the Point Roberts area has over $1,000,000 of border area fuel tax revenue that remains unused due to the restrictive nature of the current law. Therefore, the legislature intends with this act to expand the use of the border area fuel tax to include transportation improvements more broadly to provide border areas the flexibility to use this local funding source to best meet the jurisdiction's local transportation needs.

Sec. 2. RCW 82.47.030 and 1991 c 173 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

The entire proceeds of the tax imposed under this chapter, less refunds authorized by the resolution imposing such tax and less amounts deducted by the border area jurisdiction for administration and collection expenses, shall be used solely for the purposes of border area jurisdiction street maintenance and construction. However, a border area jurisdiction not directly connected to the continental United States may use the proceeds of the tax imposed under this chapter for transportation improvements as defined in RCW 36.73.015.

Passed by the Senate February 6, 2024.

Passed by the House February 27, 2024.

Approved by the Governor March 26, 2024.

Filed in Office of Secretary of State March 27, 2024.