Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee

HB 2503

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Changes the university representation process for the Board of Natural Resources to reflect the modern colleges at the University of Washington and Washington State University.

Changes the county representation process for the Board of Natural Resources to eliminate the role of the Washington State Association of Counties.

Background:

The Board of Natural Resources (Board) serves various functions in state government. It is primarily known as the administrative entity responsible for policies relating to the Department of Natural Resources and state trust land management. However, the Board also serves as the state's constitutionally required Commission on Harbor Lines and Board of Appraisers [RCW 43.30.215].

The Board is comprised of six members. Those members are required in statute to be the Governor or the Governor's designee, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Commissioner of Public Lands, a representative of both the University of Washington (UW) and Washington State University (WSU), and a representative of local government [RCW 43.30.205].

The representatives of the two universities are required to be the dean of the UW's "College of Forest Resources" and WSU's "College of Agriculture". Currently, these formal names do not exist for either university. The former UW College of Forest Resources is now a school within the College of the Environment and the dean of that college serves on the Board. The former WSU College of Agriculture is now the College of Agriculture, Human, and Natural Resources Science, and the dean of that college serves on the Board [RCW 43.03.205].

The Board member representing local government is required to be selected by the legislative authorities of counties that are trust beneficiaries of land overseen by the Board and must be an active member of one of the county's legislative authorities. Each applicable county has one vote in selecting the representative on the Board, and the Washington State Association of Counties is required to conduct a meeting for the purposes of making a county selection. The results of the county representative selection vote are forwarded to the Board by the Washington State Association of Counties [RCW 43.03.205].

Summary of Bill:

The requirements for service on the Board are changed for the university and county representatives. For the UW, the representative on the Board is changed from the "dean of the College of Forest Resources" to the "director of the School of Forest Resources". Likewise, the WSU representative is changed from dean of the "College of Agriculture" to the dean of the "College of Agriculture, Human, and Natural Resources Science".

The process for naming a Board representative from local government is changed to eliminate the required process by the Washington State Association of Counties. Instead of requiring the Washington State Association of Counties to conduct a meeting and report the results to the Board, the county representative will be selected through the coordination of a private statewide association representing the legislative authorities and executives of state counties.