SB5308 – Promoting small modular nuclear reactors.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Brown (R; 8th District; Tri-Cities)
Current status – Had a hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology on February 6th. Still in committee by 2019 cutoff; reintroduced and retained in present status for 2020 session. Failed to make it out of committee by 2020 cutoff; dead bill.
Next step would be –
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Comments –
Though the bill removes the provision in RCW 82.85.020(1)(b) that limits the sales and use tax deferral to two projects a year, RCW 82.85.040 still says the department may not approve applications for more than two projects a year. (Maybe this is intended to mean that the Department can now approve an unlimited number of deferrals, but only two from a given applicant…)

Summary –

Small modular reactors (SMRs) under the bill have an output no greater than 300 MW, and are designed to be manufactured in a factory and transported to sites. The bill specifies that the clean energy technology innovation to be supported in the State’s clean energy strategy includes SMRs. It exempts their manufacture and sale, and the manufacture and sale of any components, from the tax on manufacturing (0.484 percent), the tax on wholesale sales (0.484 percent), the State tax on retail sales (0.471 percent), and any other business and occupation taxes. (They must develop an apprenticeship, training, or workforce development program in cooperation with a public institution of higher education to be eligible for the tax breaks.) The bill exempts these tax breaks from expiring after ten years.

It expands the current provisions for deferring the payment of state and local sales and use taxes on the first $10 million of the costs of constructing, expanding, or renovating the facilities of manufacturing businesses, removing the limitation of the deferral to two projects a year and the requirement that they be located on different sides of the state. (It also specifies that projects that utilize or produce small modular reactors or other green technologies are encouraged.) The bill converts the current pilot program for directing these deferred taxes into supporting workforce training for manufacturing businesses when they are repaid into a permanent one.

These deferred taxes are to be paid in equal parts over ten years, without any adjustment for inflation, beginning five years after the completion of a project. The bill would add four years to the lifespan of this tax break, which would now expire in 2030.

Details –
It declares that the Legislature intends to extend these tax exemptions if a review finds that the number of jobs in the SMR industry in the state has increased by at least 10%. (This should be an easy standard to meet, since there are almost none now.)