The covenant homeownership account is created in the state treasury. All receipts from the assessment established in RCW 36.22.185 must be deposited into the account. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be made only for the purposes of the program described in RCW 43.181.040. The legislature may appropriate moneys in the account as follows:

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Terms Used In Washington Code 43.181.020

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • person: may be construed to include the United States, this state, or any state or territory, or any public or private corporation or limited liability company, as well as an individual. See Washington Code 1.16.080
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
(1) The legislature may appropriate up to one percent of moneys in the account to the department for costs related to the program described in RCW 43.181.040 including, but not limited to, costs related to administering one or more contracts with the commission for purposes of the program, costs related to outreach and stakeholder engagement, costs related to reimbursing the department of financial institutions for its costs related to the oversight committee created in RCW 43.181.050, and other administrative, data collection, and reporting costs; and
(2) The legislature may appropriate the remainder of the moneys in the account to the department to contract with the commission for the purposes of the program described in RCW 43.181.040.

NOTES:

SeverabilityEffect on moneys in account2023 c 340: “(1) If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.
(2) In addition, if the covenant homeownership program described in section 6 of this act is held invalid, in whole or in part, the legislature may appropriate moneys in the covenant homeownership account to the department of commerce to contract with the Washington state housing finance commission for one or more other programs that support homeownership for first-time home buyers.” [ 2023 c 340 § 15.]
Short titleConflict with federal requirements2023 c 340: See notes following RCW 43.181.040.