Washington § 70A.65.290 - Joint legislative audit and review committee — Program implementation analysis. (Expires June 30, 2030.)

(1) By December 1, 2029, the joint legislative audit and review committee must analyze the impacts of the initial five years of program implementation and must submit a report summarizing the analysis to the legislature. The analysis must include, at minimum, the following components:

(a) Costs and benefits, including environmental and public health costs and benefits, associated with this chapter for categories of persons participating in the program or that are most impacted by air pollution, as defined in consultation with the departments of ecology and health and as measured on a census tract scale. This component of the analysis must, at a minimum, assess the costs and benefits of changes in the following metrics since the start of the program:

(i) Levels of greenhouse gas emissions and criteria air pollutants for which the United States environmental protection agency has established national ambient air quality standards;

(ii) Fuel prices; and

(iii) Total employment in categories of industries that are covered entities. The categories of industries assessed must include, but are not limited to, electric utilities, natural gas utilities, oil refineries, and other industries classified as emissions-intensive and trade-exposed;

(b) An evaluation of the information provided by the department in its 2027 program evaluation under RCW 70A.65.070(3);

(c) A summary of the estimated total statewide costs and benefits attributable to the program, including state agency administrative costs and covered entity compliance costs. For purposes of calculating the benefits of the program, the summary may rely, in part, on a constant value of the social costs attributable to greenhouse gas emissions, as identified in contemporary internationally accepted estimates of such global social cost. This summary must include an estimate of the total statewide costs of the program per ton of greenhouse gas emissions reductions achieved by the program; and

(d) An evaluation of the impacts of the program on low-income households.

(2) This section expires June 30, 2030.