HB1792– Expanding various tax exemptions for the production, distribution, and use of hydrogen made by electrolysis.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Ramel (D; 40th District; Whatcom County.) (Co-Sponsors Representatives Orcutt, Abbarno – Rs, and Fitzgibbon -D)
Current status – Referred to Rules.
Next step would be – Action by the Rules Committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Summary –
In the House –
Had a hearing in Environment & Energy January 18th. Passed out of committee January 21st. Referred to Finance. Had a hearing there February 7th. Amended by the prime sponsor to reduce the length of the exemption to 15 years, and passed out of committee February 17th.

Original Bill –
The bill would define electrolytic hydrogen production facilities (using any energy source) as “fuel cell vehicle infrastructure”, including them in the current sales and use tax exemptions for labor, services, and materials used in installing, constructing, repairing, or improving fuel cell infrastructure. That definition would also exempt leased public land used for installing, maintaining, and operating electrolytic hydrogen facilities from the excise tax ordinarily collected from leaseholders in place of the property tax. (These exemptions all currently expire July 1st, 2025.)

The bill would create a new exemption from the public utilities tax for the sales of electricity to an electrolytic hydrogen production business, a business producing hydrogen using renewable resources as the source of the hydrogen and the energy, or a business compressing, liquifying, or dispensing either of these. The exemption would last for 25 years from when the business began commercial operations, provided it began by July 1, 2032, and provided the electricity used for hydrogen was metered separately from the power for the businesses’ general operations, and the price for it was reduced by an amount equal to the tax exemption. (The exemption would not apply to any remarketing or resale of electricity originally obtained by contract for the production of electrolytic hydrogen.)

The bill would authorize public utility districts to produce, use and sell electrolytic hydrogen under the current regulations governing their renewable gas businesses. It would authorize municipal utilities to use renewable and electrolytic hydrogen as well as natural gas.