AN ACT Relating to horticultural pest and disease boards; adding new sections to chapter 15.09 RCW; creating a new section; and repealing RCW 15.09.130.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 15.09 RCW to read as follows:

SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS, HORTICULTURAL TAX, APPROPRIATIONS FOR HORTICULTURAL PEST AND DISEASE BOARDS. Funding of the operating budget of the horticultural pest and disease board may be derived from any or all of the following:

(1) Moneys from the county general fund or other general revenues, as appropriated by the board of county commissioners or other county legislative authority;

(2) A horticultural tax, as authorized in RCW 15.08.260, levied by the county board of commissioners or other county legislative authority; or

(3) An assessment against all lands except those exempted from the assessment under subsection (4) of this section.

(4) The assessment in subsection (3) of this section does not apply to forest lands used solely for the planting, growing, or harvesting of trees and which are typified, except during a single period of five years following clear-cut logging, by canopies so dense as to prohibit growth of an understory. The exemption provided by this subsection does not apply to any lands used to raise hardwood trees such as, but not limited to, hybrid cottonwoods and cultivated by agricultural methods in growing cycles shorter than twelve years.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 15.09 RCW to read as follows:

SPECIAL ASSESSMENT‑-RATES. (1) Prior to the levying of an assessment authorized in section 1 of this act, the horticultural pest and disease board shall hold a public hearing at which it will gather information to serve as a basis for classification and then classify the lands into suitable classification, including but not limited to orchard lands, range lands, dry lands, nonuse lands, forest lands, or federal lands.

(2) The board shall develop and forward to the county board of commissioners or other county legislative authority, as a proposed level of assessment for each class, an amount that seems just. The assessment rate shall be either uniform per acre in its respective class, a flat rate per parcel, or a flat rate per parcel rate plus a uniform rate per acre: PROVIDED, That if no benefits are found to accrue to a class of land, a zero assessment may be levied.

(3) The county board of commissioners or other county legislative authority, upon receipt of the proposed levels of assessment from the horticultural pest and disease board, after a hearing, shall accept or modify by resolution, or refer back to the horticultural pest and disease board for its reconsideration all or any portion of the proposed levels of assessment.

(4) The amount of the assessment constitutes a lien against the property. The county board of commissioners or other county legislative authority may by resolution or ordinance require that notice of the lien be sent to each owner of the property for which the assessment has not been paid by the date it was due and that each lien created be collected by the treasurer in the same manner as delinquent real property tax, if within thirty days from the date on which the owner is sent notice of the lien, including its amount, the lien remains unpaid. Liens treated as delinquent taxes bear interest at the rate of twelve percent per annum and the interest accrues as of the date notice of the lien is sent to the owner, however, any collections for the lien shall not be considered a tax.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 15.09 RCW to read as follows:

AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS. The horticultural pest and disease board may enter into agreements with federal, state, and local government agencies and Indian tribes to perform any duties pursuant to the identification, detection, control, eradication, or education of citizens regarding horticultural pests and diseases.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. RCW 15.09.130 (Operating moneys) and 1969 c 113 s 13 are each repealed.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Captions used in sections 1 through 3 of this act are not any part of the law.