H-3440.1 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 2556
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 57th Legislature 2002 Regular Session
By Representatives Dunshee, Schmidt, Romero, Ogden, Edwards, Veloria and McIntire
Read first time 01/21/2002. Referred to Committee on Local Government & Housing.
AN ACT Relating to county auditors' fees; amending RCW 36.18.010 and 36.22.170; and adding a new section to chapter 36.22 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 36.18.010 and 1999 c 233 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
County auditors or recording officers shall collect the following fees for their official services:
For recording
instruments, for the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less,
((five)) nine dollars; for each additional page eight and
one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar. The fee for recording
multiple transactions contained in one instrument will be calculated for each
transaction requiring separate indexing as required under RCW 65.04.050 as
follows: The fee for each title or transaction is the same fee as the first
page of any additional recorded document; the fee for additional pages is the
same fee as for any additional pages for any recorded document; the fee for the
additional pages may be collected only once and may not be collected for each
title or transaction;
For preparing and certifying copies, for the first page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, three dollars; for each additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar;
((For preparing
noncertified copies, for each page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or
less, one dollar;))
For administering an oath or taking an affidavit, with or without seal, two dollars;
For issuing a marriage license, eight dollars, (this fee includes taking necessary affidavits, filing returns, indexing, and transmittal of a record of the marriage to the state registrar of vital statistics) plus an additional five-dollar fee for use and support of the prevention of child abuse and neglect activities to be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer and deposited in the state general fund plus an additional ten-dollar fee to be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer and deposited in the state general fund. The legislature intends to appropriate an amount at least equal to the revenue generated by this fee for the purposes of the displaced homemaker act, chapter 28B.04 RCW;
For searching records per hour, eight dollars;
For recording plats, fifty cents for each lot except cemetery plats for which the charge shall be twenty-five cents per lot; also one dollar for each acknowledgment, dedication, and description: PROVIDED, That there shall be a minimum fee of twenty-five dollars per plat;
For recording of
miscellaneous records not listed above, for the first page eight and one-half
by fourteen inches or less, ((five)) nine dollars; for each
additional page eight and one-half by fourteen inches or less, one dollar;
For ((modernization
and improvement of the recording and indexing system)) the document
preservation and modernization fund, a surcharge as provided in RCW
36.22.170.
For recording an
emergency nonstandard document as provided in RCW ((65.04.047)) 65.04.048,
fifty dollars, in addition to all other applicable recording fees.
Sec. 2. RCW 36.22.170 and 1993 c 37 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
A surcharge of ((two))
four dollars per instrument shall be charged by the county auditor for
each document recorded, which will be in addition to any other charge
authorized by law. Fifty percent of the revenue generated through this
surcharge shall be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer who shall
distribute such funds to each county treasurer within the state in July of each
year in accordance with the formula described in RCW 36.22.190. The county
treasurer shall place the funds received in a special account titled the ((auditor's
centennial)) document preservation and modernization account ((to be
used solely for ongoing preservation of historical documents of all county
offices and departments and shall not be added to the county current expense
fund)). Fifty percent of the revenue generated by this surcharge shall be
retained by the county and deposited in the ((auditor's operation and
maintenance fund for ongoing preservation of historical documents of all county
offices and departments)) document preservation and modernization
account.
Revenue deposited in this account shall not be added to the county current expense fund.
The ((centennial))
document preservation and modernization account is hereby created in the
custody of the state treasurer and shall be classified as a treasury trust
account. State distributions from the ((centennial)) document
preservation and modernization account shall be made without appropriation.
The document preservation and modernization account shall be used for copying, preserving, and indexing historical records in other county departments and offices as well as for the purposes set forth in RCW 36.22.160.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 36.22 RCW to read as follows:
The local government document preservation and modernization committee shall prioritize the expenditure of funds from the document preservation and modernization account and shall submit the prioritization to the county legislative authority for approval with the county budget. The funds appropriated from the document preservation and modernization account shall not be used to supplant existing county operations.
The local government document preservation and modernization committee shall be comprised of the county auditor, county assessor, county clerk, county treasurer, and one person appointed by the county legislative authority. The county auditor shall serve as chair of the committee.
--- END ---