The amendments modify two existing Washington statutes: RCW 67.28.1816 (local lodging taxes) and RCW 50.22.157 (training benefits program reporting). They change procedures and reporting requirements rather than create a new crime or alter criminal penalties. The lodging tax provisions specify permitted uses of lodging tax revenues and require new application, selection, and post-award reporting steps for applicants and recipients. The Employment Security Department is required to produce periodic program reports on the training benefits program and to include specific elements in those reports. Under the lodging tax changes, applicants for lodging tax funds must estimate how funds will increase travelers in three defined travel categories (overnight stays in paid accommodations; day trips or overnights 50 miles or more one way from residence or business; trips from another state or country). In municipalities with populations of 5,000 or more, applicants must submit applications and those estimates to the local lodging tax advisory committee; the committee must select candidates and provide a list with recommended funding amounts to the municipality, and the municipality may award funds only to recipients on that list. All recipients must report actual traveler numbers in the three categories; municipalities must make those reports available to the local legislative body and the public and furnish copies to JLARC and the local lodging tax advisory committee. The lodging tax provisions do not apply to a county with population of 1,500,000 or more. For the training benefits program, the Employment Security Department must report to the appropriate legislative committees by December 1, 2016 and every five years thereafter. The required report must include a survey-based assessment of employment outcomes for participants during the previous three years and must cover seven elements: (1) demographic analysis by NAICS code and by gender, race, age and geography; (2) duration of training benefits claimed per claimant; (3) analysis of the training provided (occupation, high-demand status, credential requirements, completion rates, basic skill courses, reasons for noncompletion); (4) employment and wage history before and after training and whether participants return to prior employers or work in retrained fields within two years; (5) identification and analysis of administrative costs at local and state levels; (6) a projection of program costs for the next fiscal year; and (7) total funds obligated for training benefits and the net balance remaining subject to RCW 50.22.140. The extracted text shows deletion of earlier language requiring JLARC to conduct periodic reviews of the training benefits program. Important context is missing: no effective date or applicability date is provided, the prior JLARC review language that was removed is not shown in full, and the December 1, 2016 deadline is in the past but the document does not indicate whether that schedule has been triggered or modified elsewhere.

If enacted, cities and other municipalities that collect lodging taxes will shift decision-making power and reporting burdens: in places with 5,000 or more people local lodging tax advisory committees must pick which applicants are eligible for funding and recommend amounts, and councils can only award money to names on those lists. Applicants (like convention and visitors bureaus, destination marketing organizations, qualifying nonprofits, and public facilities districts) will need to estimate how many additional travelers they will bring in three specific travel categories when they apply, and successful recipients will have to track and report actual traveler numbers to the municipality, the local advisory committee, and JLARC; this will increase administrative work and likely raise the cost of applying for and managing lodging-tax-funded projects while pushing funding toward groups that can credibly forecast and document visitor impacts. Separately, the Employment Security Department will incur ongoing data-collection and reporting responsibilities to deliver a detailed, survey-based review of the training benefits program by December 1, 2016 and every five years after, including demographics, training outcomes, wage changes, administrative costs, and future cost projections; that will increase agency workload and may surface program cost pressures or design issues, but the chunk removes earlier language assigning JLARC those periodic reviews, creating uncertainty about oversight changes. Important context is missing about effective dates, how the December 1, 2016 deadline is to be treated now that it is past, and the full text of related statutes referenced, so the timing and some oversight consequences can’t be determined from this excerpt alone.