Category Archives: Out of initial committee – Senate 2022

SB5908

SB5908 – Creating a Clean Car Authority to distribute, coordinate and oversee electric vehicle grants.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Liias (D; 21st District; Everett) (Co-Sponsors Carlyle, Hunt, Nguyen, and Saldaña – Ds)
Current status – Had a hearing in State Government and Elections January 28th; passed out of committee February 2nd. Had a hearing in Transportation February 3rd.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Summary –
The bill would create a new State agency, the Clean Car Authority, to distribute electric vehicle grant funding awarded to Washington from the Federal Infrastructure bill, provide a vision for the state about the most beneficial and efficient distribution of electric vehicle grants, as well as coordinating and overseeing their administration by state agencies and local governments. (It would coordinate with the Office of Climate Commitment Accountability, if that were created by SB5842. It would be subject to the requirements of the Environmental Justice Act.

Its Director would be appointed by the Governor the State’s with the consent of the Senate, and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The Director would have complete charge and supervisory powers over the authority, and could create the Authority’s administrative structures and employ any necessary personnel.  (They would be covered by civil service provisions, except for the Director and the Vice Director, if one were created.) The director would be required to appoint an industry advisory committee including representation from the electric vehicle industry, interested stakeholders, and state and local governments administering electric vehicle grants.

SB5744

SB5744 – Creates a ten year sales and use tax deferral for projects investing at least $2 million in clean technology manufacturing, clean alternative fuels production, generating renewable electricity, or storing it, with options for reducing or eliminating the deferred taxes.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Nguyen (D; 34th District; White Center) (Co-Sponsors Carlyle, Conway, Das, Kuderer, Mullet, Pedersen, Saldaña, Trudeau – Ds) (By request of the Office of Financial Management.)
Current status – Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology  January 19th. Replaced by a substitute and passed out of committee February 2nd. Referred to Ways and Means.
Next step would be – Scheduling a hearing.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
HB1988 is a companion bill in the House.

Summary –

Substitute –
The substitute would expand the deferral for facilities to store energy from renewable sources to include storage for renewable or electrolytic hydrogen and for any electricity. It would leave the current tax exemptions for renewable hydrogen production facilities as part of “electric vehicle infrastructure” in place. It would require Labor and Industries to adopt rules for the minimum labor standards and good faith efforts required to get the bill’s reductions in deferred tax obligations.

Original bill –
The bill would defer state and local sales and use taxes on materials and equipment, labor, or services for projects investing at least $2 million in buildings, or machinery and equipment, or both, for any new, renovated, or expanded clean technology manufacturing operation; facility to produce clean fuels or renewable or electrolytic hydrogen; or facility to generate or store electricity from renewable resources. The manufacturing of vehicles with no tailpipe emissions other than water, including motorcycles would be qualified; so would charging and fueling infrastructure for any of those, as well as equipment and facilities for generating renewable and electrolytic hydrogen (including preparing those for distribution); for producing clean fuel with associated greenhouse gas emissions not exceeding 80% of 2017 levels, and for generating electricity from renewable resources or equipment used directly in storing it.

Applications for the deferral could not be submitted after June 30th, 2032. Ten percent of the deferred taxes would become due on December 31st of the second year after completion of the project, and the rest of them would be due in annual payments of 10% at the end of each of the nine following years. (No interest would be charged, except on delinquent payments.)

The State would reduce its part of the taxes to be repaid by half for projects certified by L&I as including procurement from and contracts with women, minority, or veteran-owned businesses; procurement from and contracts with entities that have a history of complying with federal and state wage and hour laws and regulations; apprenticeship utilization; and preferred entry for workers living in the area where the project is being constructed. (If a project was built without one or more of these, the Department would be allowed to certify that it met them if it demonstrated it had made all good faith efforts to do so, but was unable to due to lack of availability of qualified businesses or local hires.) Projects that met these standards and paid workers at prevailing wage rates determined by local collective bargaining would receive a 75% reduction, and those that also were developed under a community workforce or project labor agreement would not have to repay the deferred taxes at all. A person leasing qualified buildings, machinery, and equipment would only receive the tax benefits if the owner agreed to pass them on in writing, and if the lessee agreed in writing with the Department to do the required tax performance reporting.

Construction would have to begin within two years or the taxes would become due. A gradually decreasing percentage of them would be due if the project had not been completed within five years or if it were used for some other purpose that didn’t qualify for the deferment.

The bill would revise a definition so that renewable hydrogen production facilities would no longer be included under the current sales and use tax exemptions as part of “electric vehicle infrastructure.”

SB5670

SB5670– Requiring local governments to allow additional duplexes through sixplexes near major transit stops and in areas now zoned single family.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Das (D; 47th District; Kent.) (Co-Sponsor Senator Kuderer – D) (By request of the Governor.)
Current status – Referred to Ways and Means.
Next step would be –  Scheduling a hearing.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
HB1782 is a companion bill in the House.

Summary –
In the Senate –
Had a hearing in Housing & Local Government January 18th; amended to allow zero lot line setbacks where appropriate and passed out of committee January 27th.

Original bill –
The bill defines “middle housing” to mean duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, fiveplexes, sixplexes, stacked flats, townhouses, and courtyard apartments with up to six units. The bill would require cities with over 20,000 people planning under the Growth Management Act [GMA] to allow them on all lots zoned for single family within half a mile of a major transit stop, and to allow duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes on all other lots zoned for single-family. As an alternative, a city with a population of 500,000 or more could alter its zoning to allow an average minimum density of at least 40 units/acre across all of its urban growth area; a city with between 100,000 people and 500,000 could rezone to an average minimum density of at least 30 units/acre across its UGA; and a city with between 20,000 and 100,000 people could rezone to an average minimum of at least 25 dwelling units/acre across its UGA. Within nine months of the effective date of the bill any of these cities that had not adopted local antidisplacement measures as part of its comprehensive plan’s mandatory elements would be required to perform the actions for addressing racially disparate impacts, displacement, and exclusion specified in the GMA for areas within one-half mile of a major transit stop. (The bill would define a major transit stop for the purposes of the entire GMA as a ferry terminal; a stop on a light rail, commuter rail, or fixed rail system; a stop on a bus rapid transit route or a route that runs on HOV lanes; or a stop for a bus or other transit mode providing actual fixed route service at intervals of 15 minutes or less for at least five hours during weekday peaks.

Any city with a population of at least 10,000 planning under the GMA would have to allow duplexes on any lots currently zoned for single-family. (Any city with a population between 10,000 and 20,000 would be able to alter its zoning to allow an average minimum density of 15 dwelling units or more per acre instead.) Cities choosing any of the alternatives based on average minimums in the bill would also have to adopt findings of fact demonstrating that will not result in racially disparate impacts, displacement, or further exclusion in housing, and then transmit those findings to the Department of Commerce.

Cities would be allowed to adopt development and design standards for middle housing, provided that those didn’t discourage it through unreasonable costs, fees, delays, or other requirements or actions which individually, or cumulatively, made developing it impracticable. They would be prohibited from requiring zoning, development, siting, or design review standards for it that were more restrictive than those for single-family residences, and would be required to apply the same development permit and environmental review processes to both. They would be prohibited from requiring off-street parking as a condition of developing it  within a half mile of a major transit stop; from requiring more than than one off-street parking space per lot for it on lots smaller than 6,000 square feet; and from requiring more than two off-street parking spaces per lot for it on lots larger than that.

The Department of Commerce would provide technical assistance to cities implementing  the bill’s requirements, and prioritize cities demonstrating the greatest need for it. It would publish a model middle housing ordinances within 18 months of the bill’s effective date, and that would preempt local development regulations until a city took all the actions necessary to implement  the bill’s requirements. Commerce would establish a process by which cities implementing the requirements could seek approval of necessary local actions. Any local actions approved by the department would be exempted from appeals under the GMA and the State Environmental Policy Act. It would exempt amendments to development regulations and other nonproject actions taken by a city to implement its requirements from administrative or judicial appeals under the GMA. [I think the language of the bill would only exempt them if they had been approved by Commerce, but I’m not sure.]

The bill’s zoning requirements would take effect twenty-four months after its effective date for cities over 10,000 people, or twelve months after the Office of Financial Management determined that a city had reached one of the population thresholds in the bill.

SB5543

SB5543 – Creates a program providing rebates for new all electric landscaping equipment in exchange for operating gas and diesel equipment that would be scrapped or recycled.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Carlyle (D; 36th District; Northwest Seattle)
Current status – Scheduled for a hearing in Ways and Means on Thursday February 17th at 4:00 PM.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

In the Senate –
Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology January 11th. Replaced by a substitute and passed out of committee January 20th. (The substitute would  convert the rebate for new equipment to a point of sale incentive, structured as a B&O credit on sales of discounted new equipment, limited to one item a year per customer. The credit would be limited to $50,000 per retailer, capped at $2 million altogether, and usable until the end of 2024.)

Summary –
The bill would establish a cash for clunkers pilot exchange program providing rebates for new all electric landscaping equipment, if funds were appropriated for that purpose. (It would be eligible for funding from the Climate Commitment Act – aka the cap and trade program.)

The program would cover edgers, trimmers, chainsaws, and pole saws; leaf blowers and vacuums; walk-behind mowers; ride-on or stand-ride mowers; additional batteries and chargers; and any other equipment approved by the Department of Ecology. Residents who turned in any operable gasoline or diesel landscaping equipment to be scrapped would be eligible for one rebate of $100 on any new piece of all electric equipment costing up to $300 including tax, or a rebate of $200 on a more expensive piece. Commercial landscapers could turn in up to three pieces and get up to three rebates.

The Department of Ecology would administer the program, and could coordinate doing that with local clean air agencies, or regional offices where a local clean air agency doesn’t exist. The department would be required to maintain a public list of retailers that agreed to take old gasoline or diesel equipment for recycling or disposal, and to track the effectiveness of the program by estimating emissions reductions from the exchanges.