BILL REQ. #:  H-4661.1 

Read first time 02/03/10.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources.

     AN ACT Relating to forest fire prevention and suppression; amending RCW 76.04.005, 76.04.165, 76.04.167, 76.04.016, and 76.04.610; and providing an effective date.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 76.04.005 and 2007 c 480 s 12 are each amended to read as follows:
     ((As used in this chapter, the following terms have the meanings indicated)) The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Additional fire hazard" means a condition existing on any land in the state:
     (a) Covered wholly or in part by forest debris which is likely to further the spread of fire and thereby endanger life or property; or
     (b) When, due to the effects of disturbance agents, broken, down, dead, or dying trees exist on forest land in sufficient quantity to be likely to further the spread of fire within areas covered by a forest health hazard warning or order issued by the commissioner of public lands under RCW 76.06.180. The term "additional fire hazard" does not include green trees or snags left standing in upland or riparian areas under the provisions of RCW 76.04.465 or chapter 76.09 RCW.
     (2) "Closed season" means the period between April 15th and October 15th, unless the department designates different dates because of prevailing fire weather conditions.
     (3) "Department" means the department of natural resources, or its authorized representatives, as defined in chapter 43.30 RCW.
     (4) "Department protected lands" means all lands subject to the forest protection assessment under RCW 76.04.610 or covered under contract or agreement pursuant to RCW 76.04.135 by the department.
     (5) "Disturbance agent" means those forces that damage or kill significant numbers of forest trees, such as insects, diseases, wind storms, ice storms, and fires.
     (6) "Emergency fire costs" means those costs incurred or approved by the department for emergency forest fire suppression, including the employment of personnel, rental of equipment, and purchase of supplies over and above costs regularly budgeted and provided for nonemergency fire expenses for the biennium in which the costs occur.
     (7) "Forest debris" includes forest slash, chips, and any other vegetative residue resulting from activities on forest land.
     (8) "Forest fire service" includes all wardens, rangers, and other persons employed especially for preventing or fighting forest fires.
     (9) "Forest land" means any unimproved lands which have enough trees, standing or down, or flammable material, to constitute in the judgment of the department, a fire menace to life or property. Sagebrush and grass areas east of the summit of the Cascade mountains may be considered forest lands when such areas are adjacent to or intermingled with areas supporting tree growth. Forest land, for protection purposes, does not include structures.
     (10) "Forest landowner," "owner of forest land," "landowner," or "owner" means the owner or the person in possession of any public or private forest land.
     (11) "Forest material" means forest slash, chips, timber, standing or down, or other vegetation.
     (12) "Landowner operation" means every activity, and supporting activities, of a forest landowner and the landowner's agents, employees, or independent contractors or permittees in the management and use of forest land subject to the forest protection assessment under RCW 76.04.610 for the primary benefit of the owner. The term includes, but is not limited to, the growing and harvesting of forest products, the development of transportation systems, the utilization of minerals or other natural resources, and the clearing of land. The term does not include recreational and/or residential activities not associated with these enumerated activities.
     (13) "Participating landowner" means an owner of forest land whose land is subject to the forest protection assessment under RCW 76.04.610.
     (14) "Slash" means organic forest debris such as tree tops, limbs, brush, and other dead flammable material remaining on forest land as a result of a landowner operation.
     (15) "Slash burning" means the planned and controlled burning of forest debris on forest lands by broadcast burning, underburning, pile burning, or other means, for the purposes of silviculture, hazard abatement, or reduction and prevention or elimination of a fire hazard.
     (16) "Suppression" means all activities involved in the containment and control of forest fires, including the patrolling thereof until such fires are extinguished or considered by the department to pose no further threat to life or property.
     (17) "Improved lands" means property on which a structure is located but does not include roads, bridges, forest lands, or unimproved lands.
     (18)(a) "Unimproved lands" means those lands ((that will support grass, brush and tree growth, or other flammable material when such lands are not cleared or cultivated and, in the opinion of the department, are a fire menace to life and property)) occupied by shrub-steppe vegetation and forest lands devoted primarily to production of livestock or agricultural commodities for commercial purposes.
     (b) "Unimproved lands" does not include improved lands.

Sec. 2   RCW 76.04.165 and 1995 c 151 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature finds and declares that forest and shrub-steppe lands within the state are increasingly being used for residential purposes; that the risk to life and property is increasing from forest fires which may destroy developed property; that, based on the primary missions for the respective fire control agencies established in this chapter, adjustment of the geographic areas of responsibility has not kept pace with the increasing use of forest lands for residential purposes; and that the department should work with the state's other fire control agencies to define geographic areas of responsibility that are more consistent with their respective primary missions.
     (2) To accomplish the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, the department shall establish a procedure to clarify its geographic areas of responsibility. The areas of department protection shall be called forest protection zones and shall not necessarily include all parcels paying a per parcel assessment as specified in RCW 76.04.610.
     (a) Other than as specified in (b) of this subsection, the department shall protect all forest land which the department is obligated to protect and all state and privately owned unimproved lands located outside of fire protection districts as of January 1, 2010.
     (b) The forest protection zones shall include all forest land and nonforested, unimproved land which the department is obligated to protect but shall not include forest land and nonforested, unimproved land within rural fire districts or municipal fire districts which affected local fire control agencies agree, by mutual consent with the department, is not appropriate for department protection. Forest land and nonforested, unimproved land not included within a forest protection zone established by mutual agreement of the department and a rural fire district or a municipal fire district shall not be assessed under RCW 76.04.610 or 76.04.630.
     (3) After the department and any affected local fire protection agencies have agreed on the boundary of a forest protection zone, the department shall establish the boundary by rule under chapter 34.05 RCW.
     (4) Except by agreement of the affected parties, the establishment of forest protection zones shall not alter any mutual aid agreement.

Sec. 3   RCW 76.04.167 and 2001 c 279 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature hereby finds and declares that:
     (a) Forest wildfires are a threat to public health and safety and can cause catastrophic damage to public and private resources, including clean air, clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, timber resources, forest soils, scenic beauty, recreational opportunities, economic and employment opportunities, structures, and other improvements;
     (b) Forest landowners and the public have a shared interest in protecting forests and forest resources by preventing and suppressing forest wildfires;
     (c) A recent independent analysis of the state fire program considered it imperative to restore a more equitable split between the general fund and forest protection assessments;
     (d) Without a substantial increase in forest protection funds, the state's citizens will be paying much more money for emergency fire suppression; and
     (e) It is therefore the intent of the legislature that the costs of fire protection be equitably shared between the forest protection assessment account and state contributions to ensure that there will be sufficient firefighters who are equipped and trained to respond quickly to fires in order to keep fires small and manage those large fires that do occur. In recognition of increases in landowner assessments, the legislature declares its intent that increases in the state's share for forest protection should be provided to stabilize the funding for the forest protection program, and that sufficient state funds should be committed to the forest protection program so that the recommendations contained in the 1997 tridata report can be implemented on an equitable basis.
     (2) The legislature hereby finds and declares that it is in the public interest to establish and maintain a complete, cooperative, and coordinated forest fire protection and suppression program for the state; that, second only to saving lives, the primary mission of the department is protecting forest resources and suppressing forest and nonforested, unimproved land wildfires; that a primary mission of rural fire districts and municipal fire departments is protecting improved property and suppressing structural fires; and that the most effective way to protect structures is for the department to focus its efforts and resources on aggressively suppressing forest wildfires.
     (3) The legislature acknowledges that the department may use discretionary authority to take actions that may prevent approaching wildfire from destroying or damaging homes and other improvements, although the legislature finds that this is not the primary mission of the department as specified in subsection (2) of this section.
     (4) The legislature also acknowledges the natural role of fire in forest ecosystems, and finds and declares it in the public interest to use fire under controlled conditions to prevent wildfires by maintaining healthy forests and eliminating sources of fuel.

Sec. 4   RCW 76.04.016 and 1993 c 196 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department when acting, in good faith, in its statutory capacity as a fire prevention and suppression agency, is carrying out duties owed to the public in general and not to any individual person or class of persons separate and apart from the public. Nothing contained in this title, including but not limited to any provision dealing with payment or collection of forest protection or fire suppression assessments or actions taken by the department within its discretionary authority that may prevent approaching wildfire from destroying or damaging personal property, may be construed to evidence a legislative intent that the duty to prevent and suppress forest fires or the use of discretionary authority to take actions that may prevent destruction or damage to personal property is owed to any individual person or class of persons separate and apart from the public in general. This section does not alter the department's duties and responsibilities as a landowner.

Sec. 5   RCW 76.04.610 and 2007 c 110 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1)(a) The department shall annually impose a per parcel assessment of four dollars and sixty-six cents on each taxable parcel of land within the state of Washington.
     (b) If any owner of forest land or nonforested, unimproved land outside a fire protection district boundary but within a forest protection zone neglects or fails to provide adequate fire protection as required by RCW 76.04.600, the department shall provide such protection and shall annually impose the following assessments on each parcel of such land: (i) A ((flat fee assessment of seventeen dollars and fifty cents; and (ii) twenty-seven)) per acre assessment of twenty-four cents on each acre ((exceeding fifty acres)) within parcels lying west of Okanogan, Chelan, Kittitas, Yakima, and Klickitat counties; and (ii) a per acre assessment of forty-four cents on each acre within parcels not specified in (b)(i) of this subsection.
     (((b) Assessors may, at their option, collect the assessment on tax exempt lands. If the assessor elects not to collect the assessment, the department may bill the landowner directly.))
     (2) ((An owner who has paid assessments on two or more parcels, each containing fewer than fifty acres and each within the same county, may obtain the following refund:
     (a) If all the parcels together contain less than fifty acres, then the refund is equal to the flat fee assessments paid, reduced by the total of (i) seventeen dollars and (ii) the total of the amounts retained by the county from such assessments under subsection (5) of this section.
     (b) If all the parcels together contain fifty or more acres, then the refund is equal to the flat fee assessments paid, reduced by the total of (i) seventeen dollars, (ii) twenty-seven cents for each acre exceeding fifty acres, and (iii) the total of the amounts retained by the county from such assessments under subsection (5) of this section.
     Applications for refunds shall be submitted to the department on a form prescribed by the department and in the same year in which the assessments were paid. The department may not provide refunds to applicants who do not provide verification that all assessments and property taxes on the property have been paid. Applications may be made by mail.
     In addition to the procedures under this subsection,)) Property owners with ((multiple)) ten or more parcels in ((a single county who qualify for a refund under this section may apply)) one county may elect to pay only one per parcel assessment provided that the property owner applies to the department on an application listing all the parcels owned in order to have the per acreage assessment computed on all parcels but to have the per parcel assessment billed to a single parcel. ((Property owners with the following number of parcels may apply to the department in the year indicated:

     Year                         Number of Parcels
     2002                         10 or more parcels
     2003                         8 or more parcels
     2004 and thereafter          6 or more parcels))

     The department must compute the correct assessment and allocate one parcel in the county to use to collect the assessment. The county must then bill the forest fire protection assessment on that one allocated identified parcel. The landowner is responsible for notifying the department of any changes in parcel ownership.
     (3) ((Beginning January 1, 1991,)) Under the administration and at the discretion of the department up to two hundred thousand dollars per year of this assessment shall be used in support of those rural fire districts assisting the department in fire protection services on forest lands.
     (4) For the purpose of this chapter, the department may divide the forest lands of the state, or any part thereof, into districts, for fire protection and assessment purposes, may classify lands according to the character of timber prevailing, and the fire hazard existing, and place unprotected lands under the administration of the proper district. Amounts paid or contracted to be paid by the department for protection of forest lands from funds at its disposal shall be a lien upon the property protected, unless reimbursed by the owner within ten days after October 1st of the year in which they were incurred. The department shall be prepared to make statement thereof, upon request, to a forest owner whose own protection has not been previously approved as to its adequacy, the department shall report the same to the assessor of the county in which the property is situated. The assessor shall extend the amounts upon the tax rolls covering the property, and upon authorization from the department shall levy the forest protection assessment against the amounts of unimproved land as shown in each ownership on the county assessor's records. The assessor may then segregate on the records to provide that the improved land and improvements thereon carry the millage levy designed to support the rural fire protection districts as provided for in RCW 52.16.170.
     (5) The amounts assessed shall be collected at the time, in the same manner, by the same procedure, and with the same penalties attached that general state and county taxes on the same property are collected, except that errors in assessments may be corrected at any time by the department certifying them to the treasurer of the county in which the land involved is situated. Assessments shall be known and designated as assessments of the year in which the amounts became reimbursable. Upon the collection of assessments the county treasurer shall place fifty cents of the total assessments paid on a parcel for fire protection into the county current expense fund to defray the costs of listing, billing, and collecting these assessments. The treasurer shall then transmit the balance to the department. Collections shall be applied against expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this section, including necessary and reasonable administrative costs incurred by the department in the enforcement of these provisions. The department may also expend sums collected from owners of forest lands or received from any other source for necessary administrative costs in connection with the enforcement of RCW 76.04.660.
     (6) When land against which forest protection assessments are outstanding is acquired for delinquent taxes and sold at public auction, the state shall have a prior lien on the proceeds of sale over and above the amount necessary to satisfy the county's delinquent tax judgment. The county treasurer, in case the proceeds of sale exceed the amount of the delinquent tax judgment, shall immediately remit to the department the amount of the outstanding forest protection assessments.
     (7) ((All nonfederal public bodies owning or administering forest land included in a forest protection zone shall)) Forest land and nonforested, unimproved lands located outside of a fire protection district boundary as of January 1, 2010, and owned or administered by nonfederal public bodies or having tax-exempt status shall be protected from wildfire by the department but shall not pay the forest protection assessments provided in this section and the special forest fire suppression account assessments under RCW 76.04.630. ((The forest protection assessments and special forest fire suppression account assessments shall be payable by nonfederal public bodies from available funds within thirty days following receipt of the written notice from the department which is given after October 1st of the year in which the protection was provided. Unpaid assessments are not a lien against the nonfederal publicly owned land but shall constitute a debt by the nonfederal public body to the department and are subject to interest charges at the legal rate.))
     (8) ((A public body, having failed to previously pay the forest protection assessments required of it by this section, which fails to suppress a fire on or originating from forest lands owned or administered by it, is liable for the costs of suppression incurred by the department or its agent and is not entitled to reimbursement of costs incurred by the public body in the suppression activities.
     (9))) The department may adopt rules to implement this section, including, but not limited to, rules on levying and collecting forest protection assessments.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   This act takes effect January 1, 2011.