HOUSE BILL REPORT
HB 1426
As Reported By House Committee On:
Fisheries & Wildlife
Title: An act relating to preservation of wildlife lands.
Brief Description: Authorizing the wildlife heritage land trust.
Sponsors: Representatives Morris, King, Orr, Basich, Karahalios, Brumsickle, Morton, Ogden, Bray, Shin, Pruitt, Brown, G. Cole, Rust, Springer, Kremen, J. Kohl and Jacobsen.
Brief History:
Reported by House Committee on:
Fisheries & Wildlife, February 16, 1993, DPS.
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES & WILDLIFE
Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 8 members: Representatives King, Chair; Orr, Vice Chair; Sehlin, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Basich; Chappell; Foreman; Lemmon; and Scott.
Minority Report: Do not pass. Signed by 1 member: Representative Fuhrman, Ranking Minority Member.
Staff: Keitlyn Watson (786-7310).
Background: There are a number of mechanisms which landowners can use to dispose of land that may be valuable as wildlife or fish habitat, and ensure that it remains in habitat. A landowner may sell, lease, donate, or exchange land with conditions, or provide for specific management requirements via management agreements. Some state and federal agencies and land trusts acquire properties for the specific purpose of ensuring that wildlife and fisheries values associated with the property remain. State agencies with land acquisition and protection programs include the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (IAC), Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Department of Wildlife (WDW), and the State Parks and Recreation Commission. There also exist nonprofit corporations that purchase land or hold it in trust until purchased by another entity. Organizations with activity in Washington state that work for fish and wildlife habitat protection are Ducks Unlimited, the Trust for Public Land, the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition, and the Nature Conservancy.
In 1992, the Budget and Revenue Review Committee, a citizen group that reviewed and reported to the Legislature on funding needs of the state Department of Wildlife, recommended the establishment of a Washington Wildlife Heritage Trust Fund within the Department of Wildlife.
The Department of Wildlife is a major state landowner, managing almost one million acres of land for wildlife habitat. The department pays to counties monies in lieu of taxes under the provisions of RCW 77.12.203. RCW 77.12.210 outlines procedures for the sale of real property by the department. Sale of lands must be at a public auction to the highest bidder.
Summary of Substitute Bill: The director of the Department of Wildlife is authorized to form a public nonprofit corporation called the Washington Wildlife Heritage Trust. The director is required to appoint a board of not more than 15 members, subject to confirmation by the Wildlife Commission, to administer the trust. Board members are not paid, but are reimbursed for per diem and mileage. Board decisions are final only after approval by the director of the Department of Wildlife.
The duties of the board are:
!to enable public acquisition of wildlife habitat using donations and to oversee the management, acquisition, exchange and sale of land and land rights by the trust;
!to provide education about voluntary habitat conservation opportunities;
!to work with landowners to encourage public recreational, hunting, and fishing access to their lands;
!to work with agencies and private organizations to accept land interests that are in the public interest; and
!to seek out opportunities for cooperative research.
The board may solicit gifts, grants, bequests, devises, and conveyances of real or personal property to fulfill its mission and may manage properties and place revenues derived from the sale of products extracted from these properties and any receipts from its activities into the Washington Wildlife Heritage Trust Fund.
The Washington Wildlife Heritage Trust Fund is created in the custody of the state treasurer. The fund will be used to repay the transfer from the state wildlife fund for creation of the trust.
The board is directed to hire staff as employees of the trust. The staff is exempt from civil service provisions. Salaries and expenses for all staff are to be paid out of the Washington Wildlife Heritage Trust Fund.
The sum of $250,000 is transferred from the state Wildlife Fund to the Washington Wildlife Heritage Trust Fund to hire staff and carry out the duties of the board, to be repaid by the trust fund.
Lands held by the trust are not subject to in lieu taxes imposed under RCW 77.12.203 unless such lands were game lands subject to such tax prior to the effective date of the act. Lands held by the trust are not subject to the auction and bidding procedures required by current law for the sale of lands held by the Department of Wildlife.
Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill: The substitute bill changes references to "land trust" to "trust."
The substitute bill adds to the list of duties of the board of the Washington Wildlife Heritage Trust the duty to seek out opportunities for cooperative research.
The substitute bill adds a provision that would allow in lieu tax of game lands under RCW 77.12.203 to continue to be applied to lands acquired by the trust that were previously game lands subject to the in lieu tax prior to the effective date of the act.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Appropriation: The sum of $250,000 transferred from the Wildlife Fund to the Washington Wildlife Heritage Trust Fund.
Effective Date of Substitute Bill: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: The Wildlife Heritage Land Trust would be beneficial for state wildlife, allowing lands and other resources to be donated to the state for the purpose of preservation. The trust would give donors greater flexibility in stipulating the use of the donation, particularly when the donation is land. HB 1426 is the culmination of years of study and planning by its sponsor and others, and is recommended by the Budget and Revenue Review Committee.
Testimony Against: None.
Witnesses: Representative Betty Sue Morris, prime sponsor (pro); Mike Ryherd, Washington Wildlife Recreation Coalition (pro); Jeff Parsons, National Audubon Society (pro); and Fred Saeger, Washington Association of County Officials (comment: make sure that bill does not result in loss of county revenues from in lieu tax payments made to counties by the Department of Wildlife for department lands).