Senate shelves tribal tax measure

The state Senate won't consider a bill this session that would take Snohomish County tax money and return it to Tulalip tribal interests.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee announced yesterday that it has no plans to push forward with House Bill 1721, also known as the Quil Ceda Village tax bill. Under the bill, the Tulalip Tribes would have begun receiving a portion of the sales tax collected at Quil Ceda Village that now goes to county coffers.

County officials argued last week before the committee that the bill would cost Snohomish County taxpayers nearly $2 million annually. Tribal members said they were only asking for equal standing since they now supply most of the infrastructure and services to village stores, which include a Wal-Mart and a Home Depot.

State Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, said yesterday the bill doesn't make economic sense for the state, which already backfills a number of growing tax needs for county governments.

"I'm afraid such a bill, if expanded to other tribes, could decimate county governments," Prentice said, referring to the drain on county sales-tax revenues. "Even though this is a pilot program, you can't ignore the impact from other tribes eventually."

The bill included only the Tulalips' Quil Ceda Village, a federally recognized city on trust land, as a pilot program, but opponents argued that other tribes could request the same treatment.

"This is not what we hoped for," said Tracie Stevens, a legislative-policy analyst for the tribes. "But we'll pursue this further."

The bill, in its third year, has fared better each outing. Last session, it reached the Senate but never got a hearing. This year's version, sponsored by state Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, passed the House on a 99-3 vote and was heard before Prentice's committee last week.

Hunter said he was disappointed and called for counties to stop their opposition.

"This was a chance for a federally recognized city to be treated like one," Hunter said. "Cities are in a better position to make infrastructure investments, and although that may be painful to the county, this bill seemed like a middle ground."

But Prentice, who stopped the bill, said she doubted the bill could pass the Senate.

"I could tell by the questions that other members of the committee had there was little support," she said, explaining her decision to stop the bill.

Members of the Snohomish County Council say they plan to begin mending fences with the Tulalips. The county was neutral on the issue until this year, when it passed a resolution in opposition last week.

"I'm hoping they understand and have some reasonable acceptance of this," said Council Chairman Gary Nelson. "They've been working at this quite some bit of time."

Besides the loss of tax revenues, county officials opposed the bill because it gave city taxing rights to the Tulalips without submission to state laws such as the Growth Management Act.

But Stevens said the tribes already follow similar growth standards even if they're not regulated by the state.

Christopher Schwarzen: 425-783-0577 or cschwarzen@seattletimes.com