The bill does not change the terms of the credit, which is limited to a maximum of 50 percent of a party's state taxes for a given year and can be carried forward for up to three years. The credit was first created by the Legislature in 2003 as part of a package of bills written by the Legislative Salmon Industry Task Force. It was extended in 2006 with reductions on the range of credit-eligible investments to those used to develop new salmon products.

HB-321 does not change those terms, but requires the Department of Revenue to develop a process by which a taxpayer can submit a proposed investment for a preliminary determination of whether the expenditure qualifies for the credit. The bill states the determination is binding unless the department determines the taxpayer "made a material misrepresentation" of their proposal.

The new language is apparently a response to a number of cases in which unsophisticated processors made investments they expected to be financed with the indirect assistance of the credit, which was later disapproved by the department.