Read first time 02/17/2005.   Referred to Committee on Select Committee on Hood Canal.

     AN ACT Relating to including the Hood Canal area in the state's on-site sewage grant program; amending RCW 90.71.100; and declaring an emergency.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 90.71.100 and 2001 c 273 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The action team shall establish ((a shellfish -)) an on-site sewage grant program ((in)) for:
     (a) Puget Sound;
     (b) Mason, Jefferson, and Kitsap counties; and
     ((for)) (c) Pacific and Grays Harbor counties.
     (2) The action team shall provide funds to local health jurisdictions to be used as grants to individuals for improving their on-site sewage systems. The grants may be provided only in areas:
     (a) That have the potential to adversely affect water quality in commercial and recreational shellfish growing areas; or
     (b) Within the watersheds that drain to Hood Canal south of a line projected from Tala Point in Jefferson county to Foulweather Bluff in Kitsap county.
     (3) A recipient of a grant shall enter into an agreement with the appropriate local health jurisdiction to maintain the improved on-site sewage system according to specifications required by the local health jurisdiction.
     (4)(a) For grants provided in Puget Sound and Pacific and Grays Harbor counties, the action team shall work closely with local health jurisdictions and shall endeavor to attain geographic equity between Willapa Bay and the Puget Sound when making funds available under this program. For the purposes of this subsection, "geographic equity" means issuing on-site sewage grants at a level that matches the funds generated from the oyster reserve lands in that area.
     (((2))) (b) For grants provided in Mason, Jefferson, and Kitsap counties, the action team may use any:
     (i) Funds appropriated by the legislature;
     (ii) Federal funds received for this program; and
     (iii) Funds generated from oyster reserve lands, as provided in RCW 77.60.160, that are located in Mason, Jefferson, and Kitsap counties.
     (5) In the Puget Sound, the action team shall give first priority to areas that are:
     (a) Identified as (("areas of special concern" under WAC 246-272-01001)) areas of special concern in rules adopted by the department of health pursuant to chapter 70.118 RCW and RCW 43.20.050; or
     (b) Included within a shellfish protection district under chapter 90.72 RCW.
     (((3))) (6) In Grays Harbor and Pacific counties, the action team shall give first priority to preventing the deterioration of water quality in areas where commercial or recreational shellfish are grown.
     (((4))) (7) The action team and each participating local health jurisdiction shall enter into a memorandum of understanding that will establish an applicant income eligibility requirement for individual grant applicants from within the jurisdiction and other mutually agreeable terms and conditions of the grant program.
     (((5))) (8) The action team may recover the costs to administer this program not to exceed ten percent of the shellfish - on-site sewage grant program.
     (((6) For the 2001-2003 biennium, the action team may use up to fifty percent of the shellfish - on-site sewage grant program funds for grants to local health jurisdictions to establish areas of special concern under WAC 246-272-01001, or for operation and maintenance programs therein, where commercial and recreational uses are present.))

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.