BILL REQ. #:  S-4419.2 

READ FIRST TIME 02/10/04.   

     AN ACT Relating to establishing a statewide strategy for land acquisitions and disposal; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1)(a) The legislature finds that the 1999 public and tribal lands inventory provides a base of information necessary to develop a statewide strategy for acquisition of lands for recreation and habitat preservation and enhancement. However, additional information on recent acquisitions is necessary to determine the extent of recent acquisitions, how they were funded, and whether those acquisitions are compatible with a statewide strategy or more narrowly in pursuit of the goals of single agencies.
     (b) The legislature further finds that land acquisition decisions have long-term implications, often in perpetuity, and that some acquisitions occur outside the control and oversight of the legislature.
     (c) The legislature intends to establish a statewide strategy for acquisition and disposal of lands for recreation and habitat preservation and enhancement, and to clarify authority for centralized, interagency control over implementation of that strategy.
     (2) The interagency committee for outdoor recreation shall submit a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the legislature and to the governor by June 30, 2005. The report shall include an inventory of recent habitat and recreational land acquisitions and a recommended statewide strategy for future acquisitions.
     (a) The inventory shall include habitat and recreational land acquisitions and disposals since 1980 by state agencies. For the purpose of this inventory, "land acquisition" means fee simple acquisition or less than a fee simple interest if that interest is for more than fifty years. Land acquisitions by state agencies include those funded by state agencies but owned by local governments. The inventory shall:
     (i) Include information about land acquisitions and disposals that involved land trading or swapping between public and private entities, and land acquisitions that were gifts;
     (ii) Specify principal use of the acquired parcels and other data compatible with the 1999 inventory;
     (iii) Specify the agency or local government acquiring or disposing of the property, the costs of the land acquisition or receipts from the disposal, the funding sources, and whether the land acquisition was funded under a legislative appropriation, an unanticipated receipt, and/or exchange of land parcels; and
     (iv) Include any additional information local governments may provide to the inventory about habitat and recreational land acquisitions by land trusts, conservancies, port districts, public utility districts, and other parties that result in the property's change to a tax exempt status.
     (b) The recommended statewide strategy must specify whether all land acquisitions and disposals of recreational and habitat lands by state agencies, regardless of fund source, should comply with the priorities and policies of chapter 79A.15 RCW and, if not, what priorities and policies should apply. The recommended statewide strategy must:
     (i) Ensure that land acquisition and disposal decisions are based on a determination of need for recreational and habitat lands compared to existing public lands serving those purposes in various areas of the state;
     (ii) Specify how to provide a central, interagency point of control to ensure that land acquisitions by state agencies, including land acquisitions funded through unanticipated receipts, comply with statewide priorities and policies;
     (iii) Examine ways to compensate local governments by spreading statewide the impact of lost tax revenues from acquisitions of private property for habitat and recreation. The strategy shall consider the benefits and costs of providing payments in lieu of taxes on certain kinds of land acquisitions, in certain counties or statewide, as lump-sum payments or periodic payments, and how such payments might be calculated; and
     (iv) Consider options for a no net gain policy in counties with large portions of existing public habitat and recreational land.