H-3446.3  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 2507

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By Representatives Schoesler, McMorris, Sheahan, Grant, Chandler, Doumit, Costa and Quall

Read first time 01/14/98.  Referred to Committee on Natural Resources.

Limiting the cost of certain reclamation fees paid by counties.

    AN ACT Relating to annual reclamation permit fees paid by counties; and amending RCW 78.44.085.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 78.44.085 and 1997 c 413 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) An applicant for a public or private reclamation permit shall pay an application fee to the department before being granted a surface mining permit.  The amount of the application fee shall be six hundred fifty dollars.

    (2) After June 30, 1993, each public or private permit holder shall pay an annual permit fee of six hundred fifty dollars.  The annual permit fee shall be payable to the department on the first anniversary of the permit date and each year thereafter.  Annual fees paid by a county for mines used exclusively for public works projects and having less than seven acres of disturbed area per mine shall not exceed one thousand dollars.  For counties with 1993 populations of at least twenty thousand persons but less than fifty thousand persons, the one thousand dollar maximum also applies to annual fees paid by the county for mines that are owned or leased by the county, that are used primarily for public works projects, and that have less than seven acres of disturbed area per mine.  Annual fees are waived for all mines used primarily for public works projects if the mines are owned and primarily operated by counties with 1993 populations of less than twenty thousand persons, and if each mine has less than seven acres of disturbed area.

    (3) Appeals from any determination of the department shall not stay the requirement to pay any annual permit fee.  Failure to pay the annual fee may constitute grounds for an order to suspend surface mining or cancellation of the reclamation permit as provided in this chapter.

    (4) All fees collected by the department shall be deposited into the surface mining reclamation account.

    (5) If the department delegates enforcement responsibilities to a county, city, or town, the department may allocate funds collected under this section to the county, city, or town.

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