BILL REQ. #:  H-2033.1 

Read first time 04/18/13.   Referred to Committee on Appropriations.

     AN ACT Relating to payments to counties in lieu of taxes; and amending RCW 77.12.201 and 77.12.203.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 77.12.201 and 2012 2nd sp.s. c 7 s 923 are each amended to read as follows:
     The legislative authority of a county may elect, by giving written notice to the director and the treasurer prior to January 1st of any year, to obtain for the following year an amount in lieu of real property taxes on game lands as provided in RCW 77.12.203. Upon the election, the county ((shall)) must keep a record of all fines, forfeitures, reimbursements, and costs assessed and collected, in whole or in part, under this title for violations of law or rules adopted pursuant to this title, ((with the exception of the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium,)) and ((shall)) must monthly remit an amount equal to the amount collected to the state treasurer for deposit in the state general fund. The election ((shall)) must continue until the department is notified differently prior to January 1st of any year.

Sec. 2   RCW 77.12.203 and 2012 2nd sp.s. c 7 s 924 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) ((Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section and)) Notwithstanding RCW 84.36.010 or other statutes to the contrary, the director ((shall)) must pay by April 30th of each year on game lands in each county, if requested by an election under RCW 77.12.201, an amount in lieu of real property taxes equal to ((that amount paid on similar parcels of open space land taxable under chapter 84.34 RCW or the greater of seventy cents)) one dollar and one cent per acre per year ((or the amount paid in 1984)), with this amount increasing one percent each calendar year beginning in 2015, plus an additional amount for control of noxious weeds equal to that which would be paid if such lands were privately owned. This amount ((shall)) may not be assessed or paid on department buildings, structures, facilities, game farms, fish hatcheries, tidelands, or public fishing areas of less than one hundred acres.
     (2) "Game lands," as used in this section and RCW 77.12.201, means those tracts one hundred acres or larger owned in fee by the department and used for wildlife habitat and public recreational purposes. All lands purchased for wildlife habitat, public access or recreation purposes with federal funds in the Snake River drainage basin ((shall be)) are considered game lands regardless of acreage.
     (3) This section ((shall)) does not apply to lands transferred after April 23, 1990, to the department from other state agencies.
     (4) The county ((shall)) must distribute the amount received under this section in lieu of real property taxes to all property taxing districts except the state in appropriate tax code areas the same way it would distribute local property taxes from private property. The county ((shall)) must distribute the amount received under this section for weed control to the appropriate weed district.
     (((5) For the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium, the director shall pay by April 30th of each year on game lands in each county, if requested by an election under RCW 77.12.201, an amount in lieu of real property taxes and shall be distributed as follows: