HB 1210 — Concerning targeted urban area tax preferences.

ENGROSSEDH-0308.2 SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1210 State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session By House Finance (originally sponsored by Representatives Barnard and Springer)Springer READPrefiled FIRST01/09/25. TIME 02/11/25.

Read first time 01/13/25.

Referred to Committee on Finance.

amending RCW 84.25.030 and 84.25.110;

It is the intent of the legislature to ensure that clean energy manufacturerstransformation businesses have equal access to the existing targeted urban area tax preferences under chapter 84.25 RCW.

Washington state has a long-standing commitment to world-classworld- class clean energy production and to the creation of familyfamily-wage wage jobs in the clean energy sector.

Therefore, the legislature intends to allow cities using the targeted urban area tax preferences to extend additional time to clean energy manufacturerstransformation businesses in an effort to grow Washington's economy and implement the legislature's carbon-free energy objectives.

RCW 84.25.030 and 2022 c 172 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "City" means any city or town.

(2) "Family living wage job" means a job that offers health care benefits with a wage that is sufficient for raising a family.

A p.

1 HB 1210 family living wage job must have an average wage of $23 an hour or more, working 2,080 hours per year on the subject site, as adjusted annually for inflation by the consumer price index.

The family living wage may be increased by the local authority based on regional factors and wage conditions.

(3) "Governing authority" means the local legislative authority of a city or county having jurisdiction over the property for which an exemption may be applied for under this chapter.

(4) "Growth management act" means chapter 36.70A RCW.

(5) "Industrial/manufacturing facilities" means building improvements that are 10,000 square feet or larger, representing a minimum improvement valuation of $800,000 for uses categorized as "division D:

manufacturing" or "division E:

transportation (major groups 40-42, 45, or 47-48)" by the United States department of labor in the occupation safety and health administration's standard industrial classification manual, provided, a city may limit the tax exemption to manufacturing uses.

(6) "Lands zoned for industrial and manufacturing uses" means lands in a city zoned for an industrial or manufacturing use consistent with the city's comprehensive plan where the lands are designated for industry.

(7) "Owner" means the property owner of record.

(8) "Targeted area" means an area of undeveloped lands zoned for industrial and manufacturing uses in the city that is located within or contiguous to an innovation partnership zone, foreign trade zone, or EB-5 regional center, and designated for possible exemption under the provisions of this chapter.

(9) "Undeveloped or underutilized" means ((that there are no existing)) a portion of or the entirety of any real property, including any building improvements on the portions of the property targeted for new or expanded industrial or manufacturing uses.

(10)(a) "Clean energy transformation business" means any business that:

(i) Constructs or operates under a license issued by the United States nuclear regulatory commission;

(ii) Produces or constructs qualified clean hydrogen;

(iii) Produces energy storage technologies or companies;

and (iv) Transmits electric energy at 500 kilovolts or greater.

(b) "Clean energy transformation business" does not mean government agencies or tribal nations.

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2 HB 1210 (11) "Energy storage technologies" means property that receives, stores, and delivers energy for conversion to electricity or, for hydrogen, stores energy, and has a nameplate capacity of not less than five kilowatts per hour, including thermal energy storage property.

(12) "Qualified clean hydrogen" means hydrogen produced through a process that results in a life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions rate of no greater than four kilograms of CO2e per kilogram of hydrogen.

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3.

(1) Upon completion of the new construction of ((aa manufacturing/((manufacturing/ industrial [industrial/manufacturing])) an industrial/manufacturing facility for which an application for an exemption under this chapter has been approved and issued a certificate of occupancy, the owner must file with the city the following:

(a) A description of the work that has been completed and a statement that the new construction on the owner's property qualify the property for a partial exemption under this chapter, including verification that all requirements of RCW 84.25.080 and commitments made by the applicant for prioritization in the application approval process have been met;

(b) A copy of the executed community workforce agreement or project labor agreement used for the construction of the project;

(c) A statement of the postconstruction new prevailing or family living wage jobs to be offered as a result of the new construction of ((manufacturing/industrial [industrial/manufacturing])) industrial/ manufacturing facilities and commitments to postconstruction labor standards for employed workers;

and (((c))) (d) A statement that the work has been completed within three years of the issuance of the conditional certificate of tax exemption.

(2) Within ((thirty)) 30 days after receipt of the statements required under subsection (1) of this section, the city must determine whether the work completed and ((the jobs to be offered)) labor standard requirements are consistent with the application and the contract approved by the city and whether the application is qualified for a tax exemption under this chapter.