H-3790.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 2468

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By Representatives Honeyford, O'Brien and D. Sommers

Read first time 01/14/98.  Referred to Committee on Capital Budget.

Establishing a program for funding capital projects for local heritage organizations.

    AN ACT Relating to capital projects for local nonprofit heritage organizations; and amending RCW 27.34.330.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 27.34.330 and 1995 c 182 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

    The Washington state historical society shall establish a competitive process to solicit proposals for and prioritize heritage capital projects for potential funding in the state capital budget.  The society shall adopt rules governing project eligibility and evaluation criteria.  Application for funding of specific projects may be made to the society by local governments, public development authorities, nonprofit corporations, tribal governments, and other entities, as determined by the society.  If the legislature provides an appropriation for heritage capital projects, the society, with the advice of leaders in the heritage field, including but not limited to representatives from the office of the secretary of state, the eastern Washington state historical society, and the state office of archaeology and historic preservation, shall establish and submit a prioritized list of heritage capital projects to ((be recommended to the governor and the legislature by September 1st of each even-numbered year, beginning in 1996.  The prioritized list shall be developed through open and public meetings.  The governor and the legislature shall consider the prioritized list of heritage projects as a guide for appropriating funds to heritage capital projects beginning with the 1997-99 biennium and thereafter)) the legislature by November 1st following the effective date of the appropriation for heritage capital projects.  The list shall include a description of each project, the amount of recommended state funding, and documentation of nonstate funds to be used for the project.  The prioritized list shall be developed through open and public meetings and the amount of state funding shall not exceed twenty-five percent of the total cost of the project.  The society shall not sign contracts or otherwise financially obligate funds under this section until the legislature has approved a specific list of projects.

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