Port of Longview v. Taxpayers of Port of Longview

533 P.2d 128, 85 Wash. 2d 216
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 18, 1975
Docket43139
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 533 P.2d 128 (Port of Longview v. Taxpayers of Port of Longview) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Port of Longview v. Taxpayers of Port of Longview, 533 P.2d 128, 85 Wash. 2d 216 (Wash. 1975).

Opinion

Utter, J.

This is an appeal of three consolidated cases. Plaintiffs, Port of Longview, Port of Tacoma, and Spokane County, brought declaratory judgment actions in the trial court under RCW 7.25 against the taxpayers of the Port of Longview, Port of Tacoma, and Spokane County *218 respectively, 1 to establish the constitutionality of Laws of 1973, ch. 132, and Laws of 1972, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 54. The two legislative acts were found constitutional, and defendant taxpayers appealed to this court. We hold parts of both of these legislative acts to be a violation of Const. art. 8, § 7 and reverse the trial court.

The Weyerhaeuser Company has been required to install pollution control facilities at its Longview plant by July 1, 1975, and the Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation, similarly, at its Tacoma and Spokane County plants by September 1, 1974, and October 31, 1974, respectively. This is a result of pollution control legislation now codified in RCW 70.94 and 90.48, regulations promulgated under these laws, and administrative action taken by the Department of Ecology.

Public Law 90-364 added in 1968 a new subsection (c) to the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 103. This provides, generally speaking, that for federal income tax purposes gross income does not include interest on the obligations of a state or political subdivision of a state issued to provide for air or water pollution control facilities. It applies where the facilities are used directly or indirectly in any trade or business carried on by an organization not a governmental unit.

In 1972 our state legislature enacted the challenged legislation which sought to allow port districts to make available pollution control facilities to nonpublic entities. The act allowed this to be done by lease, lease purchase agreement, or other agreement binding such user to pay for the use of said facilities for the full term of the revenue bonds issued by the port for the acquisition of said facilities. The payments were to at least fully reimburse the port for all *219 principal and interest paid by it on the bonds. Laws of 1972, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 54, § 1, p. 124.

The Weyerhaeuser Company requested from the Port of Longview assistance in financing the cost of the acquisition, construction, and installation of the pollution control facilities necessary to be installed at the Longview complex. The Port, acting pursuant to Laws of 1972, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 54, entered into a pollution control facility financing agreement in which it agreed to purchase a leasehold interest in certain land and pollution control facilities to be owned by Weyerhaeuser and installed at the Weyerhaeuser Longview complex. It further agreed to make such facilities available to Weyerhaeuser by sublease.

In March 1973, the Port of Tacoma and Spokane County each entered into separate agreements with the Kaiser Corporation. Each of these municipal corporations agreed to assist Kaiser in the financing of the acquisition, construction, and installation of pollution control facilities at its plants in their respective jurisdictions. They acted under the Laws of 1973, ch. 132, § 4, p. 375. 2

*220 A subsequent agreement between Weyerhaeuser and the Port of Longview provided that their 1972 pollution control facility ñnancing contract would be binding on each of them according to the terms of the Laws of 1973, ch. 132 and not Laws of 1972, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 54, unless the 1973 act was held to be unconstitutional. In the event of the act’s unconstitutionality, the parties agreed to deem themselves bound by the terms of the 1972 act.

The form of the three pollution control facility financing agreements entered into between the private corporations and the political subdivisions of this state in this suit are the same in all important details. They provide in substance that the port district or county shall issue bonds in the name of the municipality sufficient to cover the cost of acquisition, construction, and installation of the pollution control facility on property of the private corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, the municipalities have agreed to purchase a leasehold interest in the pollution control facility with the proceeds from its bond issue and to transfer to the corporation a lump-sum payment from the funds for the leasehold. This lump-sum payment equals in amount that sum necessary from time to time for acquisition, construction, and installation of that facility. The private corporation, in turn, receives payment from the municipality for this leasehold and uses those funds to acquire the completed pollution control facility.

Simultaneous with the lease to the municipality, the municipality has subleased back to the private corporation its entire possessory interest in the facility for a term equal to the original leasehold term, less 1 day. The acquisition cost to the private corporation for the sublease is equal to the municipality’s cost, principal plus interest in retiring the bonds, plus any incidental municipal administration costs. However, unlike the lump-sum payment made by the municipality for the original lease, the owner-lessor-sublessee of the pollution control facility, the private corporation, has agreed to pay for the sublease with periodic payments over the entire term of the sublease. At the conclusion of the *221 simultaneous lease-sublease term, the reversionary interest of the private corporate owner of the pollution control facility becomes a present interest fully vested both in interest and possession with no additional payment to the municipal corporation.

The bonds are issued in the name of the municipality. The face of the bond declares that it is an obligation of the issuing municipality. The proceeds from the issue of the bonds are received in the municipal treasury out of which they are paid to the private corporate owner of the facility. These bonds differ, however, from general obligation bonds and the usual municipal revenue bonds in that they provide to the issuing municipality a contractual affirmative defense to a suit by a bondholder for the municipality’s breach of obligation on the bond. Specifically, the terms of the bonds provide that, in the event the owner-lessor-sub-lessee private corporation defaults on its sublease obligation to the municipal corporation in whose name the bonds are issued, the bondholder shall hold harmless the municipality and may proceed only against the private corporate owner and sublessee of the facilities and the specific assets acquired by the private corporation with the bond proceeds.

In these cases respondents port districts and Spokane County have authorized the issuance of $67,000,000 to finance the private acquisition of pollution control facilities. Some $40,000,000 in municipal bonds have already issued and are now held by a commercial bank.

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Bluebook (online)
533 P.2d 128, 85 Wash. 2d 216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/port-of-longview-v-taxpayers-of-port-of-longview-wash-1975.