Brief Description: Regarding service areas for wetlands mitigation banks.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators Haugen, Swecker, Spanel and Rasmussen).

Senate Committee on Transportation
House Committee on Ecology & Parks

Background: A wetland mitigation bank is a wetland, stream, or other aquatic resource that has been restored or created for the purpose of providing compensation for unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources. Units of mitigation can be bought from a wetland bank and credited as mitigation against projects with unavoidable wetland impacts. Under current law, the Department of Ecology has rule making authority to select all criteria determining the service area for each bank. A service area is the geographic area in which a wetland bank can be used to offset impacts to other wetlands.

Summary: The criteria for determining a service area for a wetland mitigation bank must include restricting the maximum allowable service area to the water resource inventory area (WRIA) in which the bank is located. A service area may include parts of an adjacent WRIA if it is ecologically defensible.

For wetland mitigation banks that have an application for a banking instrument filed January 1, 2008, or after, the local government will have final approval over the certification of the mitigation bank. The local government will be a signatory to the banking instrument, if they choose to approve the mitigation bank.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate      46   2
House      94   0   (House amended)
Senate      46   1   (Senate concurred)

Effective: June 12, 2008