43.06.455 - Cigarette tax contracts -- Requirements -- Use of revenue -- Enforcement -- Definitions.

Cigarette tax contracts — Requirements — Use of revenue — Enforcement — Definitions.

(1) The governor may enter into cigarette tax contracts concerning the sale of cigarettes. All cigarette tax contracts shall meet the requirements for cigarette tax contracts under this section. Except for cigarette tax contracts under RCW 43.06.460, the rates, revenue sharing, and exemption terms of a cigarette tax contract are not effective unless authorized in a bill enacted by the legislature.

     (2) Cigarette tax contracts shall be in regard to retail sales in which Indian retailers make delivery and physical transfer of possession of the cigarettes from the seller to the buyer within Indian country, and are not in regard to transactions by non-Indian retailers. In addition, contracts shall provide that retailers shall not sell or give, or permit to be sold or given, cigarettes to any person under the age of eighteen years.

     (3) A cigarette tax contract with a tribe shall provide for a tribal cigarette tax in lieu of all state cigarette taxes and state and local sales and use taxes on sales of cigarettes in Indian country by Indian retailers. The tribe may allow an exemption for sales to tribal members.

     (4) Cigarette tax contracts shall provide that all cigarettes possessed or sold by a retailer shall bear a cigarette stamp obtained by wholesalers from a bank or other suitable stamp vendor and applied to the cigarettes. The procedures to be used by the tribe in obtaining tax stamps must include a means to assure that the tribal tax will be paid by the wholesaler obtaining such cigarettes. Tribal stamps must have serial numbers or some other discrete identification so that each stamp can be traced to its source.

     (5) Cigarette tax contracts shall provide that retailers shall purchase cigarettes only from:

     (a) Wholesalers or manufacturers licensed to do business in the state of Washington;

     (b) Out-of-state wholesalers or manufacturers who, although not licensed to do business in the state of Washington, agree to comply with the terms of the cigarette tax contract, are certified to the state as having so agreed, and who do in fact so comply. However, the state may in its sole discretion exercise its administrative and enforcement powers over such wholesalers or manufacturers to the extent permitted by law;

     (c) A tribal wholesaler that purchases only from a wholesaler or manufacturer described in (a), (b), or (d) of this subsection; and

     (d) A tribal manufacturer.

     (6) Cigarette tax contracts shall be for renewable periods of no more than eight years. A renewal may not include a renewal of the phase-in period.

     (7) Cigarette tax contracts shall include provisions for compliance, such as transport and notice requirements, inspection procedures, stamping requirements, recordkeeping, and audit requirements.

     (8) Tax revenue retained by a tribe must be used for essential government services. Use of tax revenue for subsidization of cigarette and food retailers is prohibited.

     (9) The cigarette tax contract may include provisions to resolve disputes using a nonjudicial process, such as mediation.

     (10) The governor may delegate the power to negotiate cigarette tax contracts to the department of revenue. The department of revenue shall consult with the liquor control board during the negotiations.

     (11) Information received by the state or open to state review under the terms of a contract is subject to the provisions of RCW 82.32.330.

     (12) It is the intent of the legislature that the liquor control board and the department of revenue continue the division of duties and shared authority under chapter 82.24 RCW and therefore the liquor control board is responsible for enforcement activities that come under the terms of chapter 82.24 RCW.

     (13) Each cigarette tax contract shall include a procedure for notifying the other party that a violation has occurred, a procedure for establishing whether a violation has in fact occurred, an opportunity to correct such violation, and a provision providing for termination of the contract should the violation fail to be resolved through this process, such termination subject to mediation should the terms of the contract so allow. A contract shall provide for termination of the contract if resolution of a dispute does not occur within twenty-four months from the time notification of a violation has occurred. Intervening violations do not extend this time period. In addition, the contract shall include provisions delineating the respective roles and responsibilities of the tribe, the department of revenue, and the liquor control board.

     (14) For purposes of this section and RCW 43.06.460, 82.08.0316, 82.12.0316, and 82.24.295:

     (a) "Essential government services" means services such as tribal administration, public facilities, fire, police, public health, education, job services, sewer, water, environmental and land use, transportation, utility services, and economic development;

     (b) "Indian retailer" or "retailer" means (i) a retailer wholly owned and operated by an Indian tribe, (ii) a business wholly owned and operated by a tribal member and licensed by the tribe, or (iii) a business owned and operated by the Indian person or persons in whose name the land is held in trust; and

     (c) "Indian tribe" or "tribe" means a federally recognized Indian tribe located within the geographical boundaries of the state of Washington.

[2001 c 235 § 2.]