H-97                 _______________________________________________

                                                     HOUSE BILL NO. 55

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Representatives Sutherland, B. Williams, Peery, Holm, Hargrove, Vekich, Cooper, Sayan, Basich, Fisch, Baugher and Kremen

Read first time 1/15/87 and referred to Committee on Natural Resources.

AN ACT Relating to the sustainable harvest of timber from state-owned lands; amending RCW 79.68.040; adding new sections to chapter 79.68 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     Adequately funding construction of the state's educational facilities represents one of the highest priority uses of state-owned lands.  Many existing facilities need replacement and many additional facilities will be needed by the year 2000 to house students entering the educational system.  The sale of timber from state-owned lands plays a key role in supporting the construction of school facilities.  Currently and in the future, demands for school construction funds are expected to exceed available revenues.

          The department of natural resources sells timber on a sustained yield basis.  Since 1980, purchasers defaulted on sales contracts affecting over one billion one hundred million board feet of timber.  Between 1981 and 1983, the department sold six hundred million board feet of timber less than the sustainable harvest level.  As a consequence of the two actions, the department entered their 1984-1993 planning decade with a timber sale arrearage which could be sold without adversely affecting the continued productivity of the state-owned forests.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

          (1) "Arrearage" means the summation of the annual sustainable harvest timber volume since July 1, 1979, less the sum of state timber sales contract default volume and the state timber sales volume deficit since July 1, 1979.

          (2) "Default" means the volume of timber remaining when a contractor fails to meet the terms of the sales contract on the completion date of the contract or any extension thereof and timber returned to the state under RCW 79.01.1335.

          (3) "Deficit" means the summation of the difference between the department's annual planned sales program volume and the actual timber volume sold.

          (4) "Planning decade" means the ten-year period covered in the forest land management plan adopted by the board of natural resources.

          (5) "Sustainable harvest level" means the volume of timber scheduled for sale from state-owned lands during a planning decade as calculated by the department of natural resources and approved by the board of natural resources.

        Sec. 3.  Section 4, chapter 234, Laws of 1971 ex. sess. and RCW 79.68.040 are each amended to read as follows:

          The department of natural resources shall manage the state-owned lands under its jurisdiction which are primarily valuable for the purpose of growing forest crops on a sustained yield basis insofar as compatible with other statutory directives.  To this end, the department shall periodically adjust the acreages designated for inclusion in the sustained yield management program and calculate a sustainable harvest level.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     If an arrearage exists at the end of any planning decade, the department shall offer for sale the arrearage in addition to the sustainable harvest level adopted by the board of natural resources for the next planning decade.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     Sections 2 and 4 of this act are each added to chapter 79.68 RCW.