Drafter
Clerk 02/11/2013
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AN ORDINANCE relating to the green community program under the Internal Revenue Code; establishing a green community initiative in King County, authorizing the King County executive to sign an interagency cooperation agreement to implement the initiative in King County in partnership with the Washington state Housing Finance Commission and requiring a report on the initiative.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. King County government supports environmentally responsible and sustainable development within the county through its policies and practices.
2. The King County Comprehensive Plan directs the county to advance green building and sustainable development in a number of ways, including pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ("LEED") Gold construction of capital projects, and requiring the county to work with its cities and partners to encourage energy and water conservation, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
3. The King County Strategic Plan articulates environmental sustainability goals and an ambitious environmental agenda for safeguarding and enhancing King County's natural resources and environment, including strategies to reduce climate pollution and energy consumption.
4. King County's 2010 Energy Plan provides a roadmap for the county, through its operations, to expand its energy efficiency and renewable energy efforts.
5. King County's Strategic Climate Action Plan encourages county government to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and work with the community to address climate change.
6. King County's Green Building Ordinance, Ordinance 16044, dictates that the county will, through its capital projects, make investments that reduce resource use and encourage sustainable construction, as well as share information about sustainable development practices countywide.
7. The Washington state Housing Finance Commission ("the commission") was established in 1983 pursuant to RCW 43.180.010 to "act as a financial conduit which, without using public funds or lending the credit of the state or local government, can issue nonrecourse revenue bonds and participate in federal, state, and local housing programs and thereby make additional funds available at affordable rates to help provide housing throughout the state."
8. In chapter 65, Laws of Washington 2009, the Washington state Legislature authorized the commission to "develop and implement a sustainable energy trust program to provide financing for qualified [energy efficiency and renewable energy] improvement projects;" and in chapter 379, Laws of Washington 2009, the state Legislature further charged the commission with "developing and operating energy efficiency finance programs" for "single-family and multifamily housing, commercial properties, agricultural properties, and nonprofit facilities."
9. To carry out the initiative, the commission is authorized to "participate fully in federal and other governmental programs and take actions that are necessary and consistent with this chapter [chapter 43.180 RCW] to secure to itself and the people of the state the benefits of programs to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies."
10. Section 54D(f)(1)(A)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended, provides that capital expenditures for purposes of implementing a "green community program" is a "qualified conservation purpose" and therefore eligible for federal Qualified Energy Conservation Bond ("QECB") financing, and the commission has received an allocation from the state of Washington for the QECB program.
11. King County approached the commission with the goal of stimulating the issuance of QECBs to finance resource conservation and other environmentally-beneficial projects in the county through a green community initiative.
12. The commission seeks King County's assistance in developing conservation and energy efficiency criteria to be used in the commission's implementation of a loan program to fund projects participating in a green community initiative, which loan program is established under the commission's Sustainable Energy Program.
13. The commission and King County desire to work together to further the QECB and other financing of qualifying energy conservation, energy efficiency, and environmental conservation initiatives relating to energy consumption, broadly construed, in King County.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. The executive is hereby authorized to sign an interagency cooperation agreement between King County and the Washington state Housing Finance Commission, substantially in the form of Attachment A to this ordinance, to implement the green community initiative in King County, and take such other actions as are necessary or convenient to implement the initiative in King County.
SECTION 2. A. The executive shall prepare a report summarizing the activities of the Green Community Initiative. The report shall include at minimum the following:
1. A list of those projects that have applied for financing under the Green Community initiative, a brief description of the project, the amount of financing requested and the status of the application;
2. The amount of time executive staff spent on the program; and
3. A listing of King County capital improvement projects eligible to apply for the green community initiative.
B. The executive must file the report by one year after the effective dates of this ordinance, in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers, the council chief of staff and the lead staff to the transportation, economy and environment committee or its successor.