_______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE
SENATE BILL 5254
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Passed
Legislature - 1997 Regular Session
State
of Washington 55th Legislature 1997 Regular Session
By
Read
first time 03/03/97.
Limiting liability of owners or possessors for injuries to
recreational users.
AN
ACT Relating to the limitation of liability of owners or others in possession
of land and water areas for injuries to recreational users; and amending RCW
4.24.210.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
4.24.210 and 1992 c 52 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, any public or
private landowners or others in lawful possession and control of any lands
whether designated resource, rural, or urban, or water areas or channels and
lands adjacent to such areas or channels, who allow members of the public to
use them for the purposes of outdoor recreation, which term includes, but is
not limited to, the cutting, gathering, and removing of firewood by private
persons for their personal use without purchasing the firewood from the
landowner, hunting, fishing, camping, picnicking, swimming, hiking, bicycling, skateboarding
or other nonmotorized wheel-based activities, hanggliding, paragliding, the
riding of horses or other animals, clam digging, pleasure driving of off-road
vehicles, snowmobiles, and other vehicles, boating, nature study, winter or
water sports, viewing or enjoying historical, archaeological, scenic, or
scientific sites, without charging a fee of any kind therefor, shall not be
liable for unintentional injuries to such users.
(2)
Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, any public or
private landowner or others in lawful possession and control of any lands
whether rural or urban, or water areas or channels and lands adjacent to such
areas or channels, who offer or allow such land to be used for purposes of a
fish or wildlife cooperative project, or allow access to such land for cleanup
of litter or other solid waste, shall not be liable for unintentional injuries
to any volunteer group or to any other users.
(3)
Any public or private landowner, or others in lawful possession and control of
the land, may charge an administrative fee of up to twenty-five dollars for the
cutting, gathering, and removing of firewood from the land. Nothing in this
section shall prevent the liability of such a landowner or others in lawful
possession and control for injuries sustained to users by reason of a known dangerous
artificial latent condition for which warning signs have not been conspicuously
posted. Nothing in RCW 4.24.200 and 4.24.210 limits or expands in any way the
doctrine of attractive nuisance. Usage by members of the public, volunteer
groups, or other users is permissive and does not support any claim of adverse
possession.
(4)
For purposes of this section, a license or permit issued for state-wide use
under authority of chapter 43.51 RCW, Title 75, or Title 77 RCW is not a fee.
Passed the Senate March 12, 1997.
Passed the House April 8, 1997.
Approved by the Governor
April 15, 1997.
Filed
in Office of Secretary of State April 15, 1997.
