House Bill 1126 amends three existing statutes (RCW 82.14.055, 82.14.390, and 82.14.485) to change procedures and limits for local sales and use taxes and for sales and use taxes imposed by certain public facilities districts (PFDs). It revises effective-date rules for local tax changes (generally no sooner than 75 days after written notice and only on the first day of January, April, or July; credit-type changes no sooner than 30 days after notice and on the first day of a month), specifies how rate changes for services apply to billing periods, defines “services” for that purpose (including installing, constructing, and telecommunications services but excluding tattooing), requires written notification and supporting documents when authorities contract with the Department of Revenue or when annexation causes tax changes, and defines the term “local sales and use tax change.” The bill also modifies PFD tax provisions. For PFDs under RCW 82.14.390 it sets a base maximum rate of 0.033 percent and permits increases up to 0.037 percent if the Department of Revenue determines a net loss in collections of at least 0.50 percent within three fiscal years of July 1, 2008; those determinations are final and not appealable, any increase must be in 0.001 percent increments and be the least amount necessary, and the Department collects the tax for the county at no cost and deducts it from amounts otherwise required under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW. Collections are limited to statutorily enumerated uses, must be matched by other public or private sources equal to 33 percent (with specified exclusions), expire when related bonds are retired but not more than 40 years after first collection, and require at least 75 days’ prior written notice of actual bond retirement. The bill also maintains combined tax caps and crediting rules between PFDs created under chapters 35.57 and 36.100 RCW and makes certain PFDs ineligible if the county has imposed specified county taxes. For RCW 82.14.485 the bill confirms eligibility and lower rate caps in counties under 300,000 population for qualifying PFDs that began regional center improvements by specified historical dates, limits rates (0.025 percent for certain 35.57 PFDs and 0.020 percent for certain 36.100 PFDs), and repeats collection, matching, expiration, and notice rules similar to RCW 82.14.390. The text references other RCW provisions and historical fiscal-year comparisons whose contents and broader legislative context (including any fiscal notes or the bill’s overall effective date) are not included in the provided facts.

If enacted, the bill would make the timing and paperwork for local sales and use tax changes much stricter and more predictable: local authorities would have to give the Department of Revenue formal written notice and ordinances (including maps and parcel lists for annexations) and most tax changes could only begin on specified start-of-month dates after set notice windows (generally 75 days, or 30 days for changes that are credits against the state tax). For taxpayers and billing entities this means rate increases or decreases on services will be applied based on billing periods tied to those effective dates, and the Department will be the central enforcer and collector for these local levies on behalf of counties at no charge to the districts. Public facilities districts are directly affected in how much tax they can levy and when: caps on rates are clarified, small incremental rate rises are allowed to recover certain historic revenue shortfalls but only after the Department’s unappealable finding and only in tiny increments, and any money collected must be matched by other public or private funds and will end when related bonds are retired (with districts required to notify the Department 75 days before retirement). The Department of Revenue gains responsibility for loss determinations and collection, counties and PFDs get clearer rules for financing and reporting, and taxpayers and local governments gain predictability; however, important technical details about how the Department will calculate net losses, the fiscal impact, and cross-referenced provisions are not included in the extracted material.