HB1194– Workforce development for clean and renewable energy.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Klicker (R; 16th District; Walla Walla)
Current status – Had a hearing in the House Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce  January 25th.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Summary –
The bill would create a joint clean and renewable energy workforce training center to educate and train workers for the energy transition. It would establish an adjacent state-of-the-art visitor center with educational exhibits open to the general public, intended to inspire interest in clean energy careers, and to provide citizens with knowledge about the clean energy transition to help them participate in the public policy process. It would require these to be sited in the Tri-Cities area.

They would be operated and administered jointly as an education, training, and research center by Washington State University Tri-Cities and a joint operating agency. There would be a Board of Directors with thirteen voting members representing stakeholders and a non-voting chair appointed by the Governor. The Board would work with industry to develop internships, on-the-job training, research, and other opportunities providing undergraduate and graduate students in programs about clean and renewable with direct experience and training applicable to the industry. It would promote faculty collaboration with industry and sponsor at least one annual symposium on clean and renewable energy research and deployment in the state. It would encourage research addressing industry needs. It would work with partners to market career opportunities in clean and renewable energy in Washington, and to diversify the workforce.

The bill would impose a statewide clean energy workforce investment tax of $1 per megawatt hour on the production of solar or wind projects generating five megawatts or more. It would also allow counties to impose a local tax of up to $1 per megawatt hour for up to 30 years on the production from such facilities in the county or “immediately offshore”, if the tax were approved by a majority of the people voting in a special or general election. Revenue from the local tax could be used to support tourism and economic development; to mitigate any negative impacts to tourism from the siting of energy infrastructure; and for education, workforce, and skill center initiatives.

The bill doesn’t actually specify any uses for the statewide tax. It does repeal the current sales and use tax exemptions for the equipment, machinery and installation costs of clean energy facilities producing over 1 kilowatt. (Currently, these exempt between 25% and 100% of those expenses, depending on various conditions.) It specifies that the Legislature intends that an amount equal to the additional revenue from repealing those exemptions will be deposited into a new clean and renewable energy workforce capital account to be spent through appropriations. (Perhaps the revenue from the new statewide tax on production is intended to go into that account as well…)