SENATE BILL REPORT

                  SHB 1060

              As Reported By Senate Committee On:

                Ways & Means, February 26, 1997

Title:  An act relating to including additional projects contained in LEAP CAPITAL DOCUMENT NO. 5 in the list of Washington wildlife and recreation program projects authorized in section 327, chapter 16, Laws of 1995 2nd sp. sess..

Brief Description:  Authorizing Washington wildlife and recreation program projects for fiscal year 1997.

Sponsors:  House Committee on Capital Budget (originally sponsored by Representatives Sehlin, Ogden, Hankins, Grant, Keiser, Scott, Dickerson, Cole, Conway, Quall, Lantz, Cody, Murray, Costa, Morris, Linville, Anderson and Chopp; by request of Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation).

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Ways & Means:  2/19/97, 2/26/97 [DP].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON WAYS & MEANS

Majority Report:  Do pass.

  Signed by Senators West, Chair; Deccio, Vice Chair; Strannigan, Vice Chair; Bauer, Brown, Kohl, Long, Loveland, Rossi, Sheldon, Snyder, Spanel, Swecker, Thibaudeau and Winsley.

Staff:  Cathy Baker (786-7708)

Background:  The Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP), administered by the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (IAC), provides capital grants to state and local governments for acquisition and development of recreation and habitat conservation lands.   WWRP funding, appropriated in the capital budget, is directed by statute into seven project categories:  local parks, state parks, trails, water access, urban wildlife habitat, critical habitat, and natural areas.

Local governments may apply for WWRP grants annually.  State agencies may only apply for WWRP funding biennially.  However, state agencies may reapply for funding during the second year of the biennium for projects that were approved but were not funded the first year.  Projects are competitively scored and ranked by the IAC within each category using uniform criteria.

Each year, the IAC recommends a ranked list of projects to the Governor and Legislature for possible funding.   Alternate projects are included on the list in the event that higher-ranked projects are not able to proceed.  The Governor and Legislature may delete projects from, but not add projects to, the recommended list.  The capital budget document, through a proviso attached to the WWRP appropriation, has traditionally been used as the vehicle to express legislative approval of the proposed WWRP project list.

The capital budget appropriated $45 million for the WWRP during the 1995-97 biennium.  During the 1995 session, the Legislature approved a list of 45 projects totaling $36.8 million and 48 alternate projects for fiscal year 1996.  The fiscal year 1997 list of WWRP projects, proposed during the 1996 session, included 26 projects totaling $8.2 million and 31 alternate projects.  The fiscal year 1997 list received approval in both the House and Senate versions of the 1996 supplemental capital budget.  It did not receive final approval, though, because the Legislature did not pass the budget.

Of the 26 projects included on the proposed fiscal year 1997 list, 10 projects totaling $3.9 million had previously been approved as alternates on the fiscal year 1996 list and were therefore eligible to receive WWRP funding in the absence of the supplemental budget.  The IAC provided grants to these projects in 1996.  The remaining 16 projects totaling $4.2 million have not received funding.

Summary of Bill:  The fiscal year 1997 list of WWRP projects is approved.  The list includes 16 projects totaling $4.2 million, and nine alternate projects.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.

Testimony For:  The local park projects are greatly needed by communities experiencing growth.  These projects have been waiting for funding for over a year.  The Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation will expedite grants to communities once the bill passes.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  PRO:  Jim Ballew, City of Marysville; Laura Eckert, Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation; Lori Flemm, City of Kent Parks Department.