Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research	BILL ANALYSIS
Local Government & Housing Committee

HB 2556

Brief Description:  Revising fees collected by county auditors.

Sponsors:  Representatives Dunshee, Schmidt, Romero, Ogden, Edwards, Veloria and McIntire.

Brief Summary of Bill

$Raises the recording fee charged by county auditors from five to nine dollars.

$Increases the surcharge for document preservation from two dollars to four dollars.

$Creates a local government document preservation and modernization committee in each county.

Hearing Date:  1/31/02

Staff:  Scott MacColl (786‑7106).

Background:

County auditors are statutorily authorized to charge a fee for the filing of documents with the county.  The fee for each service provided by the office is set in statute, and the fee for the first page of each recorded document is five dollars.

There is also a surcharge of two dollars charged for each document recorded, which is deposited into the auditor=s centennial account.  Fifty percent of the surcharge is proportionally distributed to all counties to be used for ongoing preservation of historical documents for all county offices.  The remaining fifty percent is retained by the county for the preservation of historical documents.

Summary of Bill:

The document recording fee charged by county auditors for the first page recorded is raised four dollars to a total of nine dollars.

The surcharge for the preservation of historical documents is raised two dollars to a total of four dollars, and deposited into the auditor=s centennial account, renamed the document preservation and modernization account.   The account must be used for copying, preserving, and indexing historical records in other county offices as well as the auditor=s office, and is not added to the county current expense fund.

A local government document preservation and modernization committee is created within each county to prioritize the expenditure of funds, and to submit the prioritization to the county legislative authority for approval.  The funds are prohibited from being used to supplant existing county operations.  The committee is made up of the auditor, who is chair, the assessor, clerk, treasurer, and an appointee of the county legislative authority.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not Requested.

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