S-4817.1 _______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6457
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State of Washington 53rd Legislature 1994 Regular Session
By Senate Committee on Natural Resources (originally sponsored by Senators Erwin, Owen, Oke, Hargrove, Franklin, Snyder, L. Smith and M. Rasmussen)
Read first time 02/04/94.
AN ACT Relating to forestry; adding new sections to chapter 76.09 RCW; and creating new sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. It is the intent of the legislature to provide a regulatory climate that is favorable to the creation of more intensive forestry in the state. The goal of this policy is to protect timber-related jobs, and provide more jobs in timber-producing regions than are currently available. The legislature also seeks to ensure more stability in the timber industry and in the timber-dependent communities around the state. One way to help accomplish these goals is to provide incentives to keep small forest land holdings in timber production.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 76.09 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The forest practices board shall develop and adopt rules that seek to assist forest landowners of small ownerships. For the purposes of this section, "small parcels" means an area of land under one hundred acres.
(2) The forest practices board shall develop a system to let all forest landowners know of the rules that affect their land, and let them know of the ways that the department of natural resources can assist them in the stewardship of their land.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The forest practices board shall conduct a study, in conjunction with the department of natural resources, on the issue of applied forest genetics, and develop state-wide rules to assist all forest landowners to produce more timber.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 76.09 RCW to read as follows:
For all rules adopted under the authority of the department of natural resources or the forest practices board, there is required:
(1) A commodity supply assessment for a proposed rule or recommended policy;
(2) An accumulative economic impact assessment for a proposed rule or recommended policy; and
(3) An assessment of disproportional impacts of proposed rules.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 76.09 RCW to read as follows:
The department of natural resources shall study and develop recommendations to:
(1) Encourage continuance of small landowners' reforestation;
(2) Ensure complete use of harvested wood and wood fiber; and
(3) Develop an incentive program for forest parcels of less than one hundred acres.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The senate committee on natural resources and the house of representatives natural resources committee shall review and report to the legislature on the following issues:
(1) Laws that restrict intensive forest management;
(2) Set-aside impacts on small landownerships of less than one hundred acres; and
(3) The authority and makeup of the forest practices board, set out under chapter 76.09 RCW.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. The board of natural resources shall assess the economic effects of declining state trust land timber harvests and levels of management for each of the state trusts. The assessment shall include data for the 1986 through 1993 period, and shall include recommendations to increase harvest and income levels. The findings of this assessment shall be reported to the legislature by December 31, 1994.
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