HOUSE BILL ANALYSIS

                  HB 2399

Title:  An act relating to technical corrections to various natural resource laws.

Brief Description:  Making technical corrections to Titles 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, and 79A RCW.

Sponsors:  Representatives Constantine, Esser, Lantz, Barlean, Cairnes and Pflug; by request of Office of the Code Reviser.

Brief Summary of Bill

CMakes technical corrections to various sections of Titles 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, and 79A RCW.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Staff:  Edie Adams (786-7180).

Background:

Inaccuracies in the Revised Code of Washington may occur in a variety of ways.  Words may be inadvertently omitted, or typographical, drafting, or grammatical errors may be made in bill drafts and floor amendments.  A bill may change a particular term, or an entity may be renamed or abolished, and references to these terms or entities in other provisions of the code become inaccurate. 

In addition, sections  may be repealed, recodified or amended in a way that changes their internal numbering.  References to these sections or subsections in other provisions of the code then become incorrect.  In 1999, the Legislature recodified many chapters from various titles into a new title - Title 79A.  Internal cross-references in these recodified sections were not updated so that Title 79A contains many inaccurate cross-references.

There are a number of decodified sections in the code.  Decodification of a section occurs when the Legislature passes two bills affecting a section, one that amends the section, and the other that repeals that same section.

Summary of Bill:

Technical corrections are made to various provisions of Titles 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, and 79A RCW, which relate to fish and wildlife and natural resources.

The technical corrections include changes to:  correct grammatical, drafting, and typographical errors; correct inaccurate references to terms that have been changed or entities that have been abolished or renamed; remove obsolete language; alphabetize definitions; and correct inaccurate cross-references resulting from amendments, recodifications, vetoes, or repealers.  In addition, several decodified and obsolete sections of the code are repealed.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

                 Office of Program Research