Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research | BILL ANALYSIS |
General Government Appropriations Committee |
SSB 6747
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 Description: Authorizing the department of natural resources to recover costs for data delivery services provided under the natural heritage program.
Sponsors: Senate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators Jacobsen, Fraser, Ranker, Shin and Kline; by request of Commissioner of Public Lands).
Brief Summary of Substitute Bill |
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Hearing Date: 2/23/10
Staff: Owen Rowe (786-7391).
Background:
In 1981 the Legislature amended the Natural Area Preserves Act and established the Washington Natural Heritage Program (WNHP) within the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The WNHP manages site-specific and species/ecosystem-specific information on priority species and ecosystems; those that are rare or have very limited distribution.
The WNHP's mandate is to:
identify which species and ecosystems are priorities for conservation effort;
build and maintain a database for priority species and ecosystems; and
share the information with others so that it can be used for environmental assessments and conservation planning purposes.
The data is used by a number of agencies, organizations, companies, and individuals for conservation planning, environmental review processes, and other information requests.
Summary of Bill:
In order to recover the service costs incurred for staff time and expenses, the WNHP must charge a $6,000 annual subscription fee or a $100 access fee per request, plus a charge of $75 per hour to process and respond to a data request. The fees are deposited into the Natural Resources Conservation Areas Stewardship Account. The WNHP may waive the fees when a data request requires less than one hour of response time or when no data is provided. The DNR may also adjust or modify the fees as necessary to recover service costs. The DNR may provide one annual subscription to any statewide trade association whose membership is comprised of private forest landowners to serve as the annual subscription for any of that association's members.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.