Fuel tax assistance grants

AN ACT Relating to creating the fuel tax assistance grant 1
program; amending RCW 70A.65.260; and adding a new section to chapter 2
28A.160 RCW. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 28A.160 5
RCW to read as follows: 6
(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this 7
specific purpose, the fuel tax assistance grant program is created. 8
The purpose of the grant is to provide relief for rural school 9
districts with large geographic areas for increased transportation 10
program costs associated with rising fuel prices. 11
(2) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall 12
administer the grant. 13
(3) To be eligible for the grant, school districts must have a 14
geographic area of 450 square miles or greater. 15
Sec. 2. RCW 70A.65.260 and 2023 c 475 s 939 are each amended to 16
read as follows: 17
(1) The climate commitment account is created in the state 18
treasury. The account must receive moneys distributed to the account 19
from the climate investment account created in RCW 70A.65.250. Moneys 20
S-0936.1
SENATE BILL 5670
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators McCune, Fortunato, Holy, J. Wilson, Boehnke, Dozier,
Christian, Warnick, Wagoner, Goehner, Short, and Braun
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in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Projects, 1
activities, and programs eligible for funding from the account must 2
be physically located in Washington state and include, but are not 3
limited to, the following: 4
(a) Implementing the working families' tax credit in RCW 5
82.08.0206; 6
(b) Supplementing the growth management planning and 7
environmental review fund established in RCW 36.70A.490 for the 8
purpose of making grants or loans to local governments for the 9
purposes set forth in RCW 43.21C.240, 43.21C.031, 36.70A.500, and 10
36.70A.600, for costs associated with RCW 36.70A.610, and to cover 11
costs associated with the adoption of optional elements of 12
comprehensive plans consistent with RCW 43.21C.420;13
(c) Programs, activities, or projects that reduce and mitigate 14
impacts from greenhouse gases and copollutants in overburdened 15
communities, including strengthening the air quality monitoring 16
network to measure, track, and better understand air pollution levels 17
and trends and to inform the analysis, monitoring, and pollution 18
reduction measures required in RCW 70A.65.020; 19
(d) Programs, activities, or projects that deploy renewable 20
energy resources, such as solar and wind power, and projects to 21
deploy distributed generation, energy storage, demand-side 22
technologies and strategies, and other grid modernization projects;23
(e) Programs, activities, or projects that increase the energy 24
efficiency or reduce greenhouse gas emissions of industrial 25
facilities including, but not limited to, proposals to implement 26
combined heat and power, district energy, or on-site renewables, such 27
as solar and wind power, to upgrade the energy efficiency of existing 28
equipment, to reduce process emissions, and to switch to less 29
emissions intensive fuel sources; 30
(f) Programs, activities, or projects that achieve energy 31
efficiency or emissions reductions in the agricultural sector 32
including: 33
(i) Fertilizer management; 34
(ii) Soil management; 35
(iii) Bioenergy; 36
(iv) Biofuels; 37
(v) Grants, rebates, and other financial incentives for 38
agricultural harvesting equipment, heavy duty trucks, agricultural 39
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pump engines, tractors, and other equipment used in agricultural 1
operations; 2
(vi) Grants, loans, or any financial incentives to food 3
processors to implement projects that reduce greenhouse gas 4
emissions; 5
(vii) Renewable energy projects; 6
(viii) Farmworker housing weatherization programs;7
(ix) Dairy digester research and development; 8
(x) Alternative manure management; and 9
(xi) Eligible fund uses under RCW 89.08.615; 10
(g) Programs, activities, or projects that increase energy 11
efficiency in new and existing buildings, or that promote low carbon 12
architecture, including use of newly emerging alternative building 13
materials that result in a lower carbon footprint in the built 14
environment over the life cycle of the building and component 15
building materials; 16
(h) Programs, activities, or projects that promote the 17
electrification and decarbonization of new and existing buildings, 18
including residential, commercial, and industrial buildings;19
(i) Programs, activities, or projects that improve energy 20
efficiency, including district energy, and investments in market 21
transformation of high efficiency electric appliances and equipment 22
for space and water heating; 23
(j) Clean energy transition and assistance programs, activities, 24
or projects that assist affected workers or people with lower incomes 25
during the transition to a clean energy economy, or grow and expand 26
clean manufacturing capacity in communities across Washington state 27
including, but not limited to: 28
(i) Programs, activities, or projects that directly improve 29
energy affordability and reduce the energy burden of people with 30
lower incomes, as well as the higher transportation fuel burden of 31
rural residents, such as bill assistance, energy efficiency, and 32
weatherization programs; 33
(ii) Community renewable energy projects that allow qualifying 34
participants to own or receive the benefits of those projects at 35
reduced or no cost; 36
(iii) Programs, activities, or other worker-support projects for 37
bargaining unit and nonsupervisory fossil fuel workers who are 38
affected by the transition away from fossil fuels to a clean energy 39
economy. Worker support may include, but is not limited to: (A) Full 40
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wage replacement, health benefits, and pension contributions for 1
every worker within five years of retirement; (B) full wage 2
replacement, health benefits, and pension contributions for every 3
worker with at least one year of service for each year of service up 4
to five years of service; (C) wage insurance for up to five years for 5
workers reemployed who have more than five years of service; (D) up 6
to two years of retraining costs, including tuition and related 7
costs, based on in-state community and technical college costs; (E) 8
peer counseling services during transition; (F) employment placement 9
services, prioritizing employment in the clean energy sector; and (G) 10
relocation expenses; 11
(iv) Direct investment in workforce development, via technical 12
education, community college, institutions of higher education, 13
apprenticeships, and other programs including, but not limited to:14
(A) Initiatives to develop a forest health workforce established 15
under RCW 76.04.521; and 16
(B) Initiatives to develop new education programs, emerging 17
fields, or jobs pertaining to the clean energy economy;18
(v) Transportation, municipal service delivery, and technology 19
investments that increase a community's capacity for clean 20
manufacturing, with an emphasis on communities in greatest need of 21
job creation and economic development and potential for commute 22
reduction; 23
(k) Programs, activities, or projects that reduce emissions from 24
landfills and waste-to-energy facilities through diversion of organic 25
materials, methane capture or conversion strategies, installation of 26
gas collection devices and gas control systems, monitoring and 27
reporting of methane emissions, or other means, prioritizing funding 28
needed for any activities by local governments to comply with chapter 29
70A.540 RCW; 30
(l) Carbon dioxide removal projects, programs, and activities; 31
((and))32
(m) Activities to support efforts to mitigate and adapt to the 33
effects of climate change affecting Indian tribes, including capital 34
investments in support of the relocation of Indian tribes located in 35
areas at heightened risk due to anticipated sea level rise, flooding, 36
or other disturbances caused by climate change. The legislature 37
intends to dedicate at least $50,000,000 per biennium from the 38
account for purposes of this subsection; and39
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(n) The fuel tax assistance grant program created in section 1 of 1
this act. 2
(2) Moneys in the account may not be used for projects or 3
activities that would violate tribal treaty rights or result in 4
significant long-term damage to critical habitat or ecological 5
functions. Investments from this account must result in long-term 6
environmental benefits and increased resilience to the impacts of 7
climate change. 8
(3) During the 2023-2025 fiscal biennium, the legislature may 9
appropriate moneys from the climate commitment account for activities 10
related to environmental justice, including implementation of chapter 11
314, Laws of 2021. 12
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