Streamlined Sales Tax (SB 5089/ HB 1072)

Sen. Debbie Regala (D-Tacoma) and Rep. Jim McIntire (D-Seattle) introduced companion SST bills this week. Both bills, SB 5089 and HB 1072, include full mitigation. The Senate Ways & Means Committee held a hearing on SB 5089 on Thursday, January 11. Cities joined panels from the Department of Revenue, counties, and business in support of the bill. Thank you to AWC President Mark Foutch, Mayor of Olympia, and Eric Faison, Federal Way Councilmember, for testifying on behalf of cities. No one testified against the bill.

The Department of Revenue is in the process of updating and revising impacts by jurisdiction for the current biennium. Those updated estimates will be posted on AWC’s website early next week. For more information, see the AWC website at www.awcnet.org/streamlinedtax.

While this early hearing by the Senate is positive, city officials should continue to remind legislators that adoption of the SST agreement with full mitigation is still extremely important to cities this session.

Annual Sales and Use Tax Holiday (HB 1012)

This bill was heard by the House Finance Committee on Friday, January 12.The bill would add a new section to the retail sales tax law to authorize an annual sales tax holiday on the second Saturday and Sunday of August for purchases associated with education. The state and local sales tax would not be collected on purchases of:

Clothing items
Computers
School art supply items
School computer supply items
School instructional material items
School supply items

AWC has concerns with the fiscal impact and testified accordingly.

Joint Select Committee on Public Health Finance

The Joint Select Committee on Public Health Finance presented recommendations to the Governor and legislative leadership in November 2006. Among other things, the Committee’s final recommendations included a state allocation of an additional $50 million annually to public health jurisdictions during the 2007-09 biennium. It was recommended that funding come from tobacco tax revenues currently deposited to the General Fund. The final report can be found at www.leg.wa.gov/documents/joint/PHF/FinalReport.pdf.

The committee’s work and recommendations will be presented to the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee at a work session on Wednesday, January 17, at 8:00 am.

Securing additional public health funding is one of AWC’s legislative priorities.

Reenacting and Reaffirming Initiative 747 (SB 5001)

As noted in last week’s Bulletin, a King County Superior Court ruled the 1% property tax cap unconstitutional. SB 5001 has been introduced, limiting regular property tax levies to a maximum of one percent higher than the previous year. The bill is intended to resolve ambiguity in the law since the court ruling, and reenact and reaffirm the 1% limit approved by the voters in 2001.

Eyman Files Initiative

On Monday, January 8, Tim Eyman filed a proposed initiative relating to tax and fee increases. Eyman calls the initiative the "Taxpayer Protection Initiative."

The initiative would require:

Either legislative approval by a two-thirds majority or voter approval for tax increases;
An advisory vote of the people for tax increases the legislature blocks from citizen referendum; and
That the state budget office do a ten year cost projection on any bill increasing taxes and fees, with public announcements and media releases of the costs, hearing dates, legislative votes and contact information.

To be certified, a petition must contain at least 224,800 valid signatures of registered voters and be filed by 5:00 pm on July 6, 2007.

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