SENATE BILL REPORT
SSB 5637
As Passed Senate, March 13, 2001
Title: An act relating to watershed health monitoring and assessments.
Brief Description: Creating a program of watershed health monitoring and assessments.
Sponsors: Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Parks & Shorelines (originally sponsored by Senators Jacobsen, Regala, Costa and Oke).
Brief History:
Committee Activity: Natural Resources, Parks & Shorelines: 2/15/01, 2/19/01 [DPS‑WM].
Passed Senate: 3/13/01, 49-0.
SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES, PARKS & SHORELINES
Majority Report: That Substitute Senate Bill No. 5637 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass and be referred to Committee on Ways & Means.
Signed by Senators Jacobsen, Chair; Spanel, Vice Chair; Constantine, Morton, Oke, Snyder and Stevens.
Staff: Ross Antipa (786‑7413)
Background: The state of Washington has begun a long-term process for restoration of watersheds and the naturally occurring species that inhabit them. A diverse range of watershed restoration projects are currently underway, but no consistent evaluation or monitoring approach has been developed.
The independent science panel, formed through the salmon restoration framework legislation, has provided recommendations for monitoring of salmon restoration and watershed health.
Summary of Bill: A monitoring oversight committee is established to review the progress of watershed-related monitoring, make recommendations, and provide an action plan. Specific monitoring objectives are established: clear goals, valid statistical designs, meaningful performance measures, standardized protocols, data quality control, sharing of data, stable funding, and integration of monitoring into decision-making processes.
Other entities involved in salmon recovery and watershed restoration must consider monitoring objectives specified in the legislation.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Requested on February 6, 2001.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: A comprehensive and scientifically supportable watershed monitoring system is necessary.
Testimony Against: None.
Testified: Curt Smitch, Governor's office (pro); Pat McElroy, DNR (pro); Paul Parker, WSAC (pro); Steve Robinson, NW Indian Fisheries Commission (pro w/concerns); Bill Robinson, Trout Unlimited (pro w/concerns).
House Amendment(s): A four-member steering committee is created. The steering committee is composed of two Senate members appointed by the President of the Senate, and two members appointed by the House of Representatives Co-Speakers. The monitoring oversight committee must brief the steering committee on a quarterly basis. Legislative members are removed from the monitoring oversight committee.
The monitoring oversight committee is co-chaired by the director of the Salmon Recovery Office and the chair of the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. The Department of Transportation and the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation are added as members to the monitoring oversight committee. Treaty Indian tribes, the independent science panel, and the Salmon Recovery Funding Board are removed from the monitoring oversight committee membership. An interim progress report is due from the monitoring oversight committee on March 1, 2002. A null and void clause is added.