Notice of Introduction for Substitute House Bill 1663

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SHB 1663, titled AN ACT Relating to reducing methane emissions from landfills, has been introduced in the House of Representatives. The Office of Financial Management has identified this bill as requiring a ten-year projection of increased cost to the taxpayers or affected fee payers.

Ten-year projection:

Department of Ecology:

Section 13 - Fees

Section 13 would allow Ecology to assess and collect such fees as may be necessary to recover the direct and indirect costs associated with the implementation of this chapter.

Ecology assumes expenditures to review applications under section 10 could be recovered through fees, however these costs are currently indeterminate and it is unknown which account fees would be recovered in. Ecology is not currently able to estimate the number of facilities that would submit applications, the timing of those requests, and the associated workload. For purposes of illustration, if the workload were approximately 40 hours per request and costs were $94 per hour based on the agency’s current rate for the new source review fee, the cost would be approximately $3,760 per application. Ecology assumes this bill would apply to an estimated total of 35 landfills, but the number of facilities and the number of requests per facility that would be requested are unknown. Expenditures and associated fee collections could be much higher depending on the cost rate at the time and the workload required for the review. Ecology assumes expenditures for applications would be charged directly to the requesting facility. 

Section 14 – Cap and Invest Program

Under current law, RCW 70A.65.080 of the Climate Commitment Act, landfills are a covered entity in the cap and invest program beginning in 2031. Revenue from auctions collected by a financial services administrator is to be deposited into accounts as designated in chapter 70A.65 RCW. Section 14 of this bill would remove landfills as a covered entity from the cap and invest program. 

The removal of landfills as a covered entity from the cap and invest program may decrease auction proceeds beginning in calendar year (CY) 2031, in accordance with Ecology’s revenue estimates submitted for 5126 E2SSB in the 2021 legislative session. Associated revenue was assumed to begin in CY 2031 and was estimated at $881,332 over the ten-year current auction revenue estimate time frame (CY 2031 through CY 2040). These impacts are beyond the timeframe of this analysis.

Ten-year projection prepared in consultation with the following agencies:

Department of Ecology
Department of Commerce

The substitute bill was proposed by:

House Committee on Environment & Energy



The original bill sponsors and contact information are:




Legislative Bill Information Website: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/

Initiative 960 Website: http://www.ofm.wa.gov/tax/default.asp