Morning mystery: What happened to House Bill 3181?

One of the larger tax increases to be sought by Democrats this session was on today's agenda of the House Capital Budget Committee for a public hearing and vote.

Then it disappeared.

At 3:48 p.m. Monday, the committee chaired by Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, issued an updated line-up for today's 2 p.m. meeting.

It called for a public hearing and action on House Bill 3181 if the bill was referred to the committee. According to the bill history, it was.

I'm sure there's no problem with the bill. But it will incite a hot political fight and maybe Democrats realize there's no reason to hurry into this battle today.

As proposed, the bill could raise as much as $250 million a year with much of that going into the cash-starved general fund this biennium.

It calls for increasing the Hazardous Substance Tax rate paid by oil refiners from 0.7 percent to 2.0 percent and pours the revenue into a whole bunch of different accounts.

Here's the allocation breakdown from the staff report on the bill. (Note: This bill appears to tie the hands of future Legislatures on the allocation of dollars which I'm not sure is really kosher with some members.)

Between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011:
20 percent is deposited in the new Storm Water Account;
1.9 percent is deposited in the Oil Spill Prevention Account;
2.05 percent is deposited in the Puget Sound Recovery Account;
2.05 percent is deposited in the new State Clean Water Account;
5 percent is deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account; and
69 percent is deposited in the State General Fund.

Between July 1, 2011, and July 1, 2013:
45 percent is deposited in the new Storm Water Account;
1.2 percent is deposited in the Oil Spill Prevention Account;
2.4 percent is deposited in the Puget Sound Recovery Account;
2.4 percent is deposited in the new State Clean Water Account;
5 percent is deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account; and
44 percent is deposited in the State General Fund.

Between July 1, 2013, and July 1, 2015:
45 percent is deposited in the new Storm Water Account;
1.1 percent is deposited in the Oil Spill Prevention Account;
4.5 percent is deposited in the Puget Sound Recovery Account;
4.4 percent is deposited in the new State Clean Water Account;
10 percent is deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account; and
35 percent is deposited in the State General Fund.

After June 30, 2015:
70 percent is deposited in the new Storm Water Account;
1 percent is deposited in the Oil Spill Prevention Account;
9.5 percent is deposited in the Puget Sound Recovery Account;
9.5 percent is deposited in the new State Clean Water Account; and
10 percent is deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account.