Brief Description: Concerning the governor's salmon recovery office.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Ocean & Recreation (originally sponsored by Senators Jacobsen, Rockefeller and Kilmer; by request of Office of Financial Management).

Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Ocean & Recreation
Senate Committee on Ways & Means
House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources
House Committee on Appropriations

Background: The Governor's Salmon Recovery Office (GSRO) was created in the Governor's office in 1998. The purpose of the GSRO is to coordinate and assist the development of regional salmon recovery plans for evolutionary significant units (ESU), and to gather and submit those plans to federal agencies in response to the Endangered Species Act. The GSRO is scheduled to sunset on June 30, 2007.

Five regional organizations have formed to address salmon recovery on an ESU scale. The Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board is currently the only regional recovery organization created in statute. The other four regional entities include: the Puget Sound Shared Strategy, the Yakima Sub-basin Fish and Wildlife Planning Board, The Snake River Salmon Recovery Board, and the Upper Columbia Salmon Board. Regional recovery groups are in the process of completing salmon recovery plans and submitting those plans for federal approval.

Summary: The expiration date for the GSRO is changed to June 30, 2015.

The primary purpose of the GSRO is expanded to provide coordination and assistance for the implementation and revision of regional salmon recovery plans.

The GSRO is required to work with regional salmon recovery organizations to ensure a coordinated and consistent statewide approach to salmon recovery. The GSRO is also required to review agency budget requests related to the salmon recovery and watershed health and make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature in order to prioritize and integrate budget requests across agencies.

The Governor's Monitoring Forum is codified and is renamed the Forum on Monitoring Salmon Recovery and Watershed Health. An expiration date of June 30, 2015, is provided for the Forum.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Ecology, Department of Natural Resources, State Conservation Commission, and the Forum on Monitoring Salmon Recovery and Watershed Health are required to provide to the GSRO requested information necessary to prepare the state of the salmon report and other reports produced by the office.

References to the Independent Science Panel are removed and replaced with the Washington Academy of Sciences, and the Governor is authorized to request that the academy impanel an independent science panel on salmon recovery to respond to requests for review made by the GSRO.

The GSRO is authorized to prepare a time line and implementation plan that identifies specific actions in regional recovery plans for state agency action and the necessary level of assistance to implement local and regional recovery plans.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate      44   2
House      89   9   (House amended)
Senate            (Senate refused to concur)
House      97   0   (House amended)
Senate      44   0   (Senate concurred)

Effective:   June 30, 2007 (Section 3)
         July 22, 2007