S-4455.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6250

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Parks (originally sponsored by Senators Swecker and Snyder)

Read first time 02/06/98.

Revising provisions relating to geoduck diver's licenses.

    AN ACT Relating to geoduck diver licenses; and amending RCW 75.28.750.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 75.28.750 and 1993 c 340 s 24 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Every diver engaged in the commercial harvest of geoduck clams shall obtain a ((nontransferable)) geoduck diver license.

(2) After July 1, 1998, the director shall issue no new geoduck diver licenses unless fewer than fifty persons are eligible for renewal.  A person may renew an existing license only if the person:

(a)(i) Held a geoduck diver license for four of the seven years 1991 through 1997; or (ii) acquired the license by transfer from someone who held it during the previous year; and

(b) Has not subsequently transferred the license to another person.

(3) If fewer than fifty persons are eligible to renew a geoduck diver license, the director may accept applications for new licenses.  The department shall adopt rules and procedures to determine whether additional diver licenses will be issued and the application procedure.  The director shall determine by random selection, from all otherwise qualified applicants, the successful applicants for any additional licenses.  In no event shall there be more than fifty licenses issued or renewed in any calendar year.

(4) When the person failed to obtain the license during the previous year because of a license suspension, the person may qualify for a license by establishing that the person held such a license during the last year in which the license was not suspended.

(5) Geoduck diver licenses are not transferable except from parent to child, from spouse to spouse during marriage or as a result of marriage dissolution or property settlement, or upon death of the license holder.

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