H-0532.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1717

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Representatives McMorris, Sump, Koster, Chandler, Mastin, Mulliken and Schoesler

Read first time 02/05/97.  Referred to Committee on Natural Resources.

Requiring the appointment of farmers to the at-large positions of the fish and wildlife commission.

    AN ACT Relating to the fish and wildlife commission; amending RCW 77.04.030; and creating a new section.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 77.04.030 and 1994 c 264 s 52 are each amended to read as follows:

    The fish and wildlife commission consists of nine registered voters of the state.  In January of each odd-numbered year, the governor shall appoint with the advice and consent of the senate two registered voters to the commission to serve for terms of six years from that January or until their successors are appointed and qualified.  If a vacancy occurs on the commission prior to the expiration of a term, the governor shall appoint a registered voter within sixty days to complete the term.  Three members shall be residents of that portion of the state lying east of the summit of the Cascade mountains, and three shall be residents of that portion of the state lying west of the summit of the Cascade mountains.  Three additional members shall be appointed at-large effective July 1, 1993; one of whom shall serve a one and one-half year term to end December 31, 1994; one of whom shall serve a three and one-half year term to end December 31, 1996; and one of whom shall serve a five and one-half year term to end December 31, 1998.  Thereafter all members are to serve a six-year term.  No two members may be residents of the same county.  The legal office of the commission is at the administrative office of the department in Olympia.

When making appointments to the at-large positions, the governor shall appoint to at least two of those positions persons who are farmers and who have knowledge and an understanding of the relationship between fish and wildlife populations and production of agricultural commodities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  Upon the expiration of the terms or the vacancies of the first two at-large member positions of the fish and wildlife commission, the governor must appoint two people who are farmers to the at-large positions of the fish and wildlife commission in order to comply with RCW 77.04.030.

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