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The assessed valuation of qualifying housing must be reduced by $50,000 for each qualifying tenant occupying the qualifying housing, subject to the conditions and requirements of this section.
To claim the exemption under this section for qualifying housing, the owner of the property must submit an application with the county assessor in a form and manner required by the department. An application submitted during the current calendar year applies to property taxes levied for collection in the following calendar year. The application must contain information, as specified by the department, substantiating that each qualifying tenant is entitled to and receiving social security disability insurance payments or the qualifying tenant is a veteran of the armed forces of the United States entitled to and receiving compensation from the United States department of veterans affairs in accordance with this section.
At least 80 percent of the property tax savings from the valuation exemption authorized under this section must verifiably and uniformly inure to the benefit of a qualifying tenant or qualifying tenants. The requirement under this subsection (3) must be effectuated through a reduction, elimination, or refund of one or more rental payments due and payable by the qualifying tenant during the same calendar year in which the property owner benefits from the exemption authorized under this section.
The amount of the exemption under this section may not exceed the assessed value of the qualifying housing.
The definitions in this subsection apply to this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
"Disability" has the same meaning as provided in 42 U.S.C. Sec. 423(d)(1)(A) as amended prior to January 1, 2025, or such subsequent date as the department may provide by rule consistent with the purpose of this section.
"Dwelling unit" means a structure or that part of a structure which is occupied by one person or by two or more persons maintaining a common household.
"Multiple-family residential property" means a building or a group of buildings having two or more dwelling units not designed or used as transient accommodations and not including hotels and motels. "Multiple-family residential property" includes the land on which such building or buildings stand.
"Qualifying housing" means a single-family residential property or multiple-family residential property.
"Qualifying tenant" means a tenant who:
Will have resided at the qualifying housing for at least nine months during the calendar year in which the application for exemption is submitted by the property owner of the qualifying housing to the county assessor; and
Is either retired from regular gainful employment by reason of disability or a veteran of the armed forces of the United States entitled to and receiving compensation from the United States department of veterans affairs with a combined service-connected evaluation rating of 40 percent or higher or a total disability rating for a service-connected disability without regard to evaluation percent.
"Single-family residential property" means an independent and freestanding structure containing one dwelling unit and the land on which the dwelling unit stands.
"Tenant" means any person who is entitled to occupy a dwelling unit primarily for living or dwelling purposes under a rental agreement.
RCW 82.32.805 and 82.32.808 do not apply to this act.