SENATE BILL REPORT

                   HB 1119

              As Reported By Senate Committee On:

                  Ways & Means, April 2, 1997

Title:  An act relating to private timber purchaser reporting.

Brief Description:  Extending the expiration date of an act requiring the purchaser of privately owned timber to report to the department of revenue.

Sponsors:  Representatives Schoesler, Sheldon, Buck, Hatfield, Johnson, Kessler and Boldt.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Ways & Means:  3/31/97, 4/2/97 [DP].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON WAYS & MEANS

Majority Report:  Do pass.

  Signed by Senators West, Chair; Deccio, Vice Chair; Strannigan, Vice Chair; Bauer, Brown, Fraser, Hochstatter, Kohl, Long, Loveland, McDonald, Rossi, Schow, Snyder, Swecker, Winsley and Zarelli.

Staff:  Terry Wilson (786-7433)

Background:  Timber owners pay a 5 percent timber excise tax on the value of their timber when they cut it.  The tax is based on timber stumpage values.  Stumpage is the value of timber as it stands uncut in the woods.  The Department of Revenue is required by law to establish timber stumpage values semi-annually.  Until the early 1990s, the department used publicly-owned timber sales as comparable sales for computing stumpage values.  Since that time, the number of public sales has declined significantly.

Purchasers of more than 200,000 board feet of privately-owned timber are required to report transaction details to the Department of Revenue.  Purchasers of privately-owned timber who fail to report may be liable for a penalty of $250 for each failure to report.  The requirement to report timber purchase details expires March 1, 1997.

Summary of Bill:  The expiration date on private timber sale reporting is extended to July 1, 2000.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Available.

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

Testimony For:  The reporting provisions need to be extended.  We need the data to determine stumpage value tables.  No penalty has been imposed in the three years this has been in effect.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  PRO:  Gary O'Neil, Department of Revenue; John Ehrenreich, Washington Forest Protection Association.