BILL REQ. #:  S-3760.2 

Read first time 01/19/2004.   Referred to Committee on Natural Resources, Energy & Water.

     AN ACT Relating to setting and meeting flow levels; amending RCW 79A.15.030; and adding a new section to chapter 90.54 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 90.54 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall establish achievable streamflow levels for each water resource inventory area in which watershed planning under the provisions of chapter 90.82 RCW is not considering amending an existing flow or setting new flows or for those water resource inventory areas without watershed planning activities. The streamflows must be set within twenty years from the effective date of this section, as funding is made available by the legislature for such flow setting. The department shall create a process of public involvement similar to that of a watershed planning unit under the provision of chapter 90.82 RCW, in order to ensure that local citizens are informed and afforded, to the maximum extent practicable, the opportunity to guide the flow setting process.
     (2) The department shall establish a schedule for setting flows under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, and shall submit the schedule to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature by December 1, 2005. The department shall subsequently report to the legislature with an updated schedule every two years until the schedule is completed. Along with the schedule, the department shall provide updated information on flows that have been set.
     (3) Once flows have been set, the department shall develop a strategy to achieve such flows. The strategy must be part of the report to the legislature required by subsection (2) of this section.
     (4) The reports required under the provisions of this section may be coordinated with the annual flow status report required by RCW 90.82.080.

Sec. 2   RCW 79A.15.030 and 2000 c 11 s 66 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Moneys appropriated for this chapter shall be divided ((equally between the habitat conservation and outdoor recreation accounts)) as follows: Forty-five percent each to the habitat conservation and outdoor recreation accounts, and ten percent to the water quality account, and shall be used exclusively for the purposes specified in this chapter. The ten percent allocated to the water quality account must be used exclusively for setting and achieving flows in accordance with section 1 of this act.
     (2) Moneys deposited in these accounts shall be invested as authorized for other state funds, and any earnings on them shall be credited to the respective account.
     (3) All moneys deposited in the habitat conservation and outdoor recreation accounts shall be allocated under RCW 79A.15.040 and 79A.15.050 as grants to state or local agencies for acquisition, development, and renovation within the jurisdiction of those agencies, subject to legislative appropriation. The committee may use or permit the use of any funds appropriated for this chapter as matching funds where federal, local, or other funds are made available for projects within the purposes of this chapter.
     (4) Projects receiving grants under this chapter that are developed or otherwise accessible for public recreational uses shall be available to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.
     (5) The committee may make grants to an eligible project from both the habitat conservation and outdoor recreation accounts and any one or more of the applicable categories under such accounts described in RCW 79A.15.040 and 79A.15.050.