SENATE BILL REPORT

                   SB 6703

              As Passed Senate, February 12, 1996

Title:  An act relating to historic preservation.

Brief Description:  Providing for historic preservation.

Sponsors:  Senators Fraser, Swecker, Fairley and Winsley.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Ecology & Parks:  1/31/96, 2/1/96 [DP].

Passed Senate, 2/12/96, 45-0.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON ECOLOGY & PARKS

Majority Report:  Do pass.

  Signed by Senators Fraser, Chair; Fairley, Vice Chair; Hochstatter, McAuliffe, Spanel and Swecker.

Staff:  Gary Wilburn (786-7453)

Background:  The Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation (OAHP) is a division of the state Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development, and administers a variety of responsibilities relating to historic preservation.  These include maintaining the state register of historic places, preparing nominations for register additions, conducting surveys of historic properties, assisting local historic preservation programs, and assisting in certification of federal historic property tax credit applications.  State and local governments own and manage large numbers of historic sites and structures, but few agencies have the resources to maintain on staff specific expertise in the identification and stewardship of historic properties.  It has been suggested that OAHP is an appropriate agency to assist in training for this purpose.

Executive Order 87-04 directed OAHP to maintain a list of eligible historic properties that may be suitable for the state's use, and to provide current copies of the list to the Department of General Administration.  The order required General Administration to forward monthly to OAHP information regarding what space is being solicited by state agencies.  The department was also to consider proposals from owners of historical properties that are available and potentially could meet state agency's requirements.  However, the executive order was not implemented.

Summary of Bill:  OAHP is authorized to establish a stewardship center to conduct activities of state and local agencies in the identification and protection of cultural resources.  The center' s activities include training state and local employees, developing information sharing regarding historic properties, preparing a volunteer program to protect state and local properties from vandalism, developing guidelines to encourage protection of cultural resources of state and local agencies, and review of agency proposals for rehabilitation and reuse of state-owned historic properties.

The director of the Department of General Administration and OAHP must develop an interagency agreement providing procedures for ensuring that designated historic buildings and properties are considered when the department is evaluating facilities for purchase, lease, or other acquisition for state agency needs.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Requested on January 23, 1996.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  Many state agencies and local governments lack staff expertise regarding the protection of historic properties under their management, and this bill would authorize the appropriate agency to develop a needed training program for this purpose.  The bill also provides a good cooperative mechanism for evaluating the feasibility of using historic properties to satisfy state agency space needs for acquisition or leasing.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  David M. Hansen, DCTED (pro); Steve Wells, DCTED (pro).