S-2389.1          _______________________________________________

                        SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5574

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State of Washington              54th Legislature             1995 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators Hargrove, A. Anderson, Snyder, McDonald, Owen, Long, Rasmussen, Swecker, Heavey, Morton, Deccio, Johnson, Loveland, Hale, Sutherland, Strannigan, Palmer, Moyer, Hochstatter, West, Drew, Haugen, Quigley, Bauer and Roach)

Read first time 03/06/95.

Concerning the return of state forest board transfer land.

     AN ACT Relating to the return of state forest board transfer lands back to counties; and creating new sections.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that in the early 1900's and up through the 1930's, counties took possession of a number of forest land parcels as a result of tax delinquencies.  In many cases, the timber had already been harvested from these lands prior to the forfeiture of the property to the counties.  Since that time, the department of natural resources has reforested and managed these lands in conjunction with the state trust lands.  Given changes in forest practices, recent fluctuation in income from the forest board lands, and questions about the management of the department of natural resources, the legislature directs that a study of the policies and an analysis of economic elements of the management of state forest board lands be conducted by the legislative budget committee, in consultation with the Washington state members of western states legislatures forestry task force and the chairs of the senate and house of representatives committees on natural resources.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  The study under section 1 of this act shall include the following subjects:

     (1) The role of the forest board lands in the state's sustained yield calculations and the effect of removing all or part of those lands on income, yield, and management policies;

     (2) The appropriate levels of management for forest board lands and an analysis of costs of such management;

     (3) The economic and forest practice implications of separating the forest board lands from the total lands managed by the department;

     (4) The effects of transfer to counties on county expenditures and income on a county-by-county basis;

     (5) The effects of a transfer on public access, recreation, and the management of other public and private lands;

     (6) The long and short-term effects on private timber manufacturing;

     (7) A comparison of forest management procedures and costs between Grays Harbor county and similar forest board and state trust lands;

     (8) Potential changes in state and county employment due to changes in management;

     (9) A comparison of the present and past costs of reforestation and management of similar state trust lands and forest board lands; and

     (10) Examine the best possible methods and procedures to transfer the forest board lands to the counties.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  The findings of the study, along with recommendations to the legislature, shall be submitted to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature by December 1, 1995.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.  If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill number, is not provided by June 30, 1995, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and void.

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