HB1921 – Creating rules for the tax assessment of wind and solar facilities, and authorizing counties to enter into agreements for their annual payment of fees in place of property taxes.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Ramel (D; 40th District; Whatcom County) (Co-Sponsors Boehnke & Young – Rs; Fitzgibbon, Shewmake, & Kloba – Ds)
Current status – Had a hearing in Finance January 18th; replaced by a substitute from the prime sponsor making a number of changes that are summarized in a staff memo and passed out  of committee February 4th. Referred to Rules February 7th. Replaced on the floor by a striker from the prime sponsor which stripped the bill down to the development of rules for assessment by the Department of Revenue and required county assessors to refer to those in valuing renewable property, though they’d still be allowed to use other methods if they had a compelling reason. Passed by the House 97-1 on February 15th.
Next step would be – To the Senate.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Summary –
The bill would require the Department of Revenue to develop rules for the tax assessment of solar and wind facilities of at least one megawatt of AC nameplate capacity that were not yet in service, using a cost-based approach. In doing this, it would have to develop industry specific trending tables for solar and for wind projects, and to develop an appraisal model in cooperation with stakeholders within 90 days of the effective date of the bill. The bill would prohibit revaluing a facility for at least twenty years after it was placed into service.

It would also allow the governing body of a county and the owner of the property for a wind or solar project in the unincorporated area of the county that was not yet in service to enter into an agreement exempting it from the property tax and providing for the payment of an annual fee in its place. The fee could not be more than $4,500/MW of AC nameplate capacity for a solar project and $8,000/MW for wind projects, plus $750/MW for storage associated with projects. Agreements would be limited to a maximum of ten years, but might be renewed by mutual consent. If any portion of the property were within an incorporated city, the county would have to have its consent to an agreement. The payments would be due on April 30th each year, and handled as if they were property tax payments. If the fee weren’t paid, the property would be subject to the regular tax the next year, though it could continue under the agreement by paying the fee plus penalties and interest by October 31st of the year in which it was due.

HB1964 – Requires property leases for solar or wind projects to include and maintain a decommissioning plan and financial assurance of the project owner’s capacity to implement it.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Corry (R; 14th District; Jefferson and Clallam Counties)
Current status – Scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy and Technology on Tuesday February 22nd at 10:30 AM.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

In the House – Passed
Had a hearing in the House Committee on Environment and Energy January 27th. Passed out of committee February 3rd and referred to Rules. Replaced by a striker on the floor and passed by the House February 11th. (The striker required the projected cost of demolition to include an offset for the salvage value of the facility and be based on the cost of hiring a third party to do the work. It required the financial assurance to include an additional 20% contingency factor; prohibited local jurisdictions from requiring higher financial assurances; and made some other changes that are summarized by staff at the end of it.

Summary –
The bill would make developers leasing land for a solar or wind project responsible for decommissioning it within 18 months of when it stopped operating, requiring them to make and maintain a plan for decommissioning and financial assurance of their capacity to implement it.

The Department of Ecology would be required to develop a provisional standard form for these within 180 days in consultation with the industry, and then a final form. Unless a property owner and the project owner agreed on other terms in writing a plan would have to provide for removing nonutility-owned equipment, conduits, structures, fencing, and foundations to at least three feet below grade; removing graveled areas and access roads (unless the property owner requested leaving them in writing); restoring the property to a condition reasonably similar to its initial state, including replacing topsoil removed or eroded on previously productive agricultural land; and reseeding cleared areas, unless the property owner made a written request that not be done because of plans for agricultural planting. (The project owner would not be required to remove equipment and materials that a public utility required top remain on-site.)

The financial assurance would have to be equal to the cost of meeting these obligations, as calculated and updated every five years by a third-party professional engineer hired by the project owner from a list made by the department, and equal to at least $10,000/megawatt of the facility’s AC nameplate capacity. (Acceptable methods of assurance would include a bond or escrow account.) At least thirty days before beginning construction a project owner would have to provide the decommissioning plan and proof of financial assurance covering at least 20% of the cost of decommissioning to the county auditor. Each five years after that an updated decommissioning plan and proof of financial assurance increasing the coverage by 20% would be required, so that financial assurance covering 100% of the cost of decommissioning would be required with the updated plan due on or before the 20th anniversary of the beginning of construction.

On or before the 20th anniversary of beginning construction, the updated decommissioning plan would have to include include an estimate of the removed materials (including wind turbines, photovoltaic modules, turbine blades, towers, guy wires, auxiliary equipment, and steel support structures) that would be salvaged, recycled, refurbished, or sent to a landfill. No more than 20% of the mass of a facility, excluding cement support structures, could be landfilled.

The bill would preempt local ordinances and regulations dealing with any aspects of facility agreements, financial assurance, and decommissioning plans associated with wind and solar projects. None of its requirements would apply to the nonutility owner or operator of a net metered distributed 
generation system with a nameplate capacity of below 3,000 kilowatts.
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