10 Year Analysis Complete for House Bill 1678

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UPDATE: The 10 year analysis for HB 1678, titled AN ACT Relating to providing funding for enhanced wastewater treatment infrastructure for salmon recovery through a fee assessed on municipal discharges of untreated sewage into Puget Sound, has been completed. 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:

The cash receipts impact to Ecology under this bill in Fiscal Year 2026 and ongoing for revenue under section 2 is expected to be greater than $50,000, annually, but is indeterminate. 

Under section 2, Ecology would be required to conduct a rulemaking to establish a ten-cent fee as a penalty for each gallon of untreated sewage discharged directly to Puget Sound or to waterbodies in hydraulic continuity to Puget Sound when the source of the discharge is from a municipal combined sewer overflow system or municipal wastewater treatment plant. Revenue would be deposited into the Salmon Recovery Account. 

Revenue from the penalties established in section 2 is indeterminate. The level of untreated sewage that would be charged this penalty is unknown and could vary significantly year to year. For example, for calendar year 2022, in the northwest regional area, there was approximately 1.8 billion gallons of overflow (some of which did not spill into Puget Sound, but we aren’t able to separate out that data). At 1.8 billion gallons, the penalty assessment would have been approximately $180 million.

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

Department of Ecology


Bill sponsors and contact information:

Representative Mary Dye, Prime Sponsor
Republican
(360) 786-7942
mary.dye@leg.wa.gov

Representative Mark Klicker
Republican
(360) 786-7836
Mark.Klicker@leg.wa.gov

Representative Travis Couture
Republican
(360) 786-7902
Travis.Couture@leg.wa.gov

Representative April Connors
Republican
(360) 786-7882
April.Connors@leg.wa.gov

Representative Suzanne Schmidt
Republican
(360) 786-7820
Suzanne.Schmidt@leg.wa.gov

Representative John Ley
Republican
(360) 786-7812
John.Ley@leg.wa.gov

Representative Michael Keaton
Republican
(360) 786-7948
Michael.Keaton@leg.wa.gov

Representative Andrew Barkis
Republican
(360) 786-7824
andrew.barkis@leg.wa.gov

Representative Jenny Graham
Republican
(360) 786-7962
jenny.graham@leg.wa.gov

Representative Greg Nance
Democrat
(360) 786-7842
Greg.Nance@leg.wa.gov




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

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