| Passed by the Senate March 11, 2009 YEAS 49 ________________________________________ President of the Senate Passed by the House April 23, 2009 YEAS 95 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives | I, Thomas Hoemann, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5684 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Secretary | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 61st Legislature | 2009 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 03/02/09.
AN ACT Relating to environmental mitigation in highway construction; and adding a new section to chapter 47.01 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 A new section is added to chapter 47.01 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) For highway construction projects where the department
considers agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance, as
defined in RCW 36.70A.030, in reviewing and selecting sites to meet
environmental mitigation requirements under the national environmental
policy act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 4321 et seq.) and chapter 43.21C RCW, the
department shall, to the greatest extent possible, consider using
public land first.
(2) If public lands are not available that meet the required
environmental mitigation needs, the department may use other sites
while making every effort to avoid any net loss of agricultural lands
that have a designation of long-term commercial significance.