BILL REQ. #:  H-0801.1 

Read first time 01/23/13.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources.

     AN ACT Relating to the sea cucumber dive fishery; and amending RCW 77.70.190, 82.27.020, and 82.27.070.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 77.70.190 and 2011 c 339 s 33 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A sea cucumber dive fishery license is required to take sea cucumbers for commercial purposes. A sea cucumber dive fishery license authorizes the use of only one diver in the water at any time during sea cucumber harvest operations. If the same vessel has been designated on two sea cucumber dive fishery licenses, two divers may be in the water. A natural person may not hold more than two sea cucumber dive fishery licenses.
     (2) Except as provided in subsection (6) of this section, the director shall issue no new sea cucumber dive fishery licenses. For licenses issued for the year 2000 and thereafter, the director shall renew existing licenses only to a natural person who held the license at the end of the previous year. If a sea cucumber dive fishery license is not held by a natural person as of December 31, 1999, it is not renewable. However, if the license is not held because of revocation or suspension of licensing privileges, the director shall renew the license in the name of a natural person at the end of the revocation or suspension if the license holder applies for renewal of the license before the end of the year in which the revocation or suspension ends.
     (3) Where a licensee failed to obtain the license during either of the previous two years because of a license suspension by the director or the court, the licensee may qualify for a license by establishing that the person held such a license during the last year in which the person was eligible.
     (4) Surcharges as provided for in this section shall be collected and deposited into the sea cucumber dive fishery account hereby created in the custody of the state treasurer. The collections and deposits must continue, as set forth in (a) and (b) of this subsection, through license year ((2013)) 2016, or until the number of licenses is reduced to twenty, whichever occurs first. Only the director or the director's designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The sea cucumber dive fishery account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for expenditures. Expenditures from the account shall only be used to retire sea cucumber licenses until the number of licenses is reduced to twenty, and thereafter shall ((only)) be ((used for sea cucumber management and enforcement)) equally divided and returned to the remaining permit holders. The director or the director's designee shall notify the department of revenue within thirty days when the number of licenses is reduced to twenty.
     (a) A surcharge of one hundred dollars shall be charged with each sea cucumber dive fishery license renewal for licenses issued in 2000 through ((2013)) 2016, or until the number of licenses is reduced to twenty, whichever occurs first.
     (b) For licenses issued for license years 2000 through ((2013)) 2016, or until the number of licenses is reduced to twenty, whichever occurs first, a surcharge shall be charged on the sea cucumber dive fishery license for designating an alternate operator. The surcharge shall be as follows: Five hundred dollars for the first year or each of the first two consecutive years after 1999 that any alternate operator is designated and two thousand five hundred dollars each year thereafter that any alternate operator is designated.
     (5) Sea cucumber dive fishery licenses are transferable. For licenses issued for license years 2000 through ((2013)) 2016, or whenever the number of licenses is reduced to twenty, whichever occurs first, there is a surcharge to transfer a sea cucumber dive fishery license. The surcharge is five hundred dollars for the first transfer of a license valid for license year 2000 and two thousand five hundred dollars for any subsequent transfer, occurring in the license years 2000 through ((2013)) 2016, or whenever the number of licenses is reduced to twenty, whichever occurs first. The application fee to transfer a sea cucumber dive fishery license is one hundred five dollars. Notwithstanding this subsection, a one-time transfer exempt from surcharge applies for a transfer from the natural person licensed on January 1, 2000, to that person's spouse or child.
     (6) If fewer than twenty persons are eligible for sea cucumber dive fishery licenses, the director may accept applications for new licenses. The additional licenses may not cause more than twenty natural persons to be eligible for a sea cucumber dive fishery license. New licenses issued under this section shall be distributed according to rules of the department that recover the value of such licensed privilege.

Sec. 2   RCW 82.27.020 and 2010 c 193 s 16 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) In addition to all other taxes, licenses, or fees provided by law there is established an excise tax on the commercial possession of enhanced food fish as provided in this chapter. The tax is levied upon and shall be collected from the owner of the enhanced food fish whose possession constitutes the taxable event. The taxable event is the first possession in Washington by an owner after the enhanced food fish has been landed. Processing and handling of enhanced food fish by a person who is not the owner is not a taxable event to the processor or handler.
     (2) A person in possession of enhanced food fish and liable to this tax may deduct from the price paid to the person from which the enhanced food fish (except oysters) are purchased an amount equal to a tax at one-half the rate levied in this section upon these products.
     (3) The measure of the tax is the value of the enhanced food fish at the point of landing.
     (4) The tax shall be equal to the measure of the tax multiplied by the rates for enhanced food fish as follows:
     (a) Chinook, coho, and chum salmon and anadromous game fish: Five and twenty-five one-hundredths percent;
     (b) Pink and sockeye salmon: Three and fifteen one-hundredths percent;
     (c) Other food fish and shellfish, except oysters, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers: Two and one-tenth percent;
     (d) Oysters: Eight one-hundredths of one percent;
     (e) Sea urchins: Four and six-tenths percent through December 31, 2013, or until the department of fish and wildlife notifies the department that the number of sea urchin licenses has been reduced to twenty licenses, whichever occurs first, and two and one-tenth percent thereafter; and
     (f) Sea cucumbers: Four and six-tenths percent through December 31, ((2013)) 2016, or until the department of fish and wildlife notifies the department that the number of sea cucumber licenses has been reduced to twenty licenses, whichever occurs first, and two and one-tenth percent thereafter.
     (5) An additional tax is imposed equal to the rate specified in RCW 82.02.030 multiplied by the tax payable under subsection (4) of this section.

Sec. 3   RCW 82.27.070 and 2010 c 193 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:
     All taxes collected by the department of revenue under this chapter shall be deposited in the state general fund except for the excise tax on anadromous game fish, which shall be deposited in the state wildlife account. From January 1, 2000, to December 31, ((2013)) 2016, or until the department of fish and wildlife notifies the department that the license reduction goals of the sea urchin or sea cucumber fishery have been met, whichever occurs first, twenty-five forty-sixths of the revenues derived from the excise tax on sea urchins collected under RCW 82.27.020 shall be deposited into the sea urchin dive fishery account created in RCW 77.70.150, and twenty-five forty-sixths of the revenues derived from the excise tax on sea cucumbers collected under RCW 82.27.020 shall be deposited into the sea cucumber dive fishery account created in RCW 77.70.190.