Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

RCW 35.92.050

Authority to acquire and operate utilities.

Applied in 20 court decisions — leading case 108 Wash. 2d 679 - City of Tacoma v. Taxpayers of City of Tacoma (1987)

Most recently applied in Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. City of Seattle (August 2017)

2025 c 1 s 3 (Initiative Measure No. 2066, approved November 5, 2024); 2022 c 292 s 405; 2002 c 102 s 3; 1985 c 445 s 9; 1965 c 7 s 35.92.050

How often courts cite this section

196219701980199020002010201740
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) A city or town may also construct, condemn and purchase, purchase, acquire, add to, alter, maintain, and operate works, plants, facilities for the purpose of furnishing the city or town and its inhabitants, and any other persons, with gas, electricity, green electrolytic hydrogen as defined in RCW 54.04.190, renewable hydrogen as defined in RCW 54.04.190, and other means of power and facilities for lighting, including streetlights as an integral utility service incorporated within general rates, heating, fuel, and power purposes, public and private, with full authority to regulate and control the use, distribution, and price thereof, together with the right to handle and sell or lease, any meters, lamps, motors, transformers, and equipment or accessories of any kind, necessary and convenient for the use, distribution, and sale thereof; authorize the construction of such plant or plants by others for the same purpose, and purchase gas, electricity, or power from either within or without the city or town for its own use and for the purpose of selling to its inhabitants and to other persons doing business within the city or town and regulate and control the use and price thereof.

(2) A city or town that furnishes natural gas shall provide natural gas to those inhabitants that demand, apply for, and are reasonably entitled to receive, natural gas under this section, even if other energy services or energy sources may be available.

Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.