2351-S AMS NAT S5555.1

2351-S AMS NAT S5555.1

SHB 2351 - S COMM AMD

By Committee on Natural Resources

NOT ADOPTED 3/4/94

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that:

(1) Reduced levels of log raft storage and transportation on the waters of this state have resulted in a reduction of commercial log recovery activity and have eliminated the need for a separate licensing program for recovery of stray logs; and

(2) While stray logs are a much less common problem today than when log raft transportation was more common, stray logs that are adrift on waters of this state may still pose a threat to navigation, life, and property; and

(3) Recovery of submerged or stranded stray logs can result in damage to the environment.

Therefore, the legislature finds that an alternative method for encouraging the recovery of adrift stray logs must be established.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 76.40 RCW to read as follows:

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) "Adrift" means floating without control; neither aground, beached, stranded, fully submerged, anchored in place, or secured in any way;

(2) "Department" means the Washington state department of natural resources;

(3) "Having a merchantable value" means capable of commanding value alone or in combination with other recovered logs;

(4) "Person" means an individual, partnership, private corporation, or association of individuals of whatever nature, including public agencies;

(5) "Stray logs" means logs, piling, poles, and boom sticks having a merchantable value that have escaped from their owner or the owner's agent during storage or while being transported. The term includes stray logs that are adrift, those that have been adrift and are stranded on beaches, marshes, tidelands, shorelands, or state-owned aquatic lands, and those that are partially or wholly submerged in the waters of the state; and

(6) "Waters of the state" means bodies of fresh or salt water including all rivers and lakes and their tributaries, harbors, bays, bayous, and marshes within the state capable of being used for the transportation or storage of forest products.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 76.40 RCW to read as follows:

Any person may recover and secure adrift stray logs on waters of this state. Landowners may recover and secure stray logs that have become submerged or stranded on their property as the result of being adrift on waters of this state. A person who chooses to recover and secure stray logs must do so in a manner that does not damage beaches, marshes, tidelands, shorelands, aquatic lands, or other property and that does not diminish the merchantable value of the timber. Within thirty days of recovering stray logs, the person who recovered the logs must notify the owner of the logs that the logs have been recovered. Ownership of logs shall be determined under chapter 76.36 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 76.40 RCW to read as follows:

Within thirty days of receipt of notification that an owner's stray log or logs have been recovered, a log owner, the owner's agent, or the transportation agency of the log may retrieve the stray log or logs from the person who recovered them. The person that recovered the stray log or logs shall be entitled to a reasonable compensation, for the recovery effort and return of stray log or logs to the owner, the owner's agent, or the transportation agency provided compensation shall not exceed two hundred dollars or thirty percent of the value of the log or logs, whichever is less. A person shall not take into possession any stray logs including unbranded logs during the time that the owner, the owner's agent, or the transportation agency is attempting immediate recovery of the stray logs. If the owner, the owner's agent or the transportation agency chooses not to retrieve the stray logs, the person who recovered the logs may sell them or dispose of them as the person sees fit after ninety days, provided the person has made three attempts in writing to notify the owner. Of the written notice to the owner, one of the three must be a certified return receipt mail at the owner's last known address.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 76.40 RCW to read as follows:

Branded and marked logs, boom sticks, and boom chains shall be presumed to be the property of the person in whose name the brand or catch brand thereon is imprinted and is registered with the department of natural resources.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 76.40 RCW to read as follows:

Any person having possession of stray logs, boom sticks, or boom chains, except as provided in this chapter shall be presumed to have and to hold possession of same with intent to deprive and defraud the owner thereof and such possession shall be prima facie evidence to deprive and defraud.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. A new section is added to chapter 76.40 RCW to read as follows:

It shall be unlawful to purchase or otherwise acquire stray logs other than from the owner, or from a person who has recovered stray logs according to this chapter or to process or manufacture products from logs acquired in contravention of the provisions of this chapter or to possess such logs for such purpose.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 76.40 RCW to read as follows:

Any violation of this chapter shall be a gross misdemeanor. In addition, the owner who has been deprived of the use, benefit, or possession of any stray logs, booms sticks, or boom chains, in violation of this chapter, shall have a right of civil action to recover damages from any person causing such deprivation, including the purchaser of such stray logs, boom sticks, and boom chains.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. A new section is added to chapter 76.40 RCW to read as follows:

The department may close areas under its jurisdiction to log recovery activities if the department determines that log recovery in those areas would pose a threat to public safety or the environment.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. A new section is added to chapter 76.40 RCW to read as follows:

The department may enter into agreements with the state of Oregon and its applicable agencies to coordinate log recovery activities where possible.

Sec. 11. RCW 76.36.110 and 1984 c 60 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

Every person:

(1) Except boom companies ((~~and log patrol companies~~)) organized as corporations for the purpose of catching or reclaiming and holding or disposing of forest products for the benefit of the owners, and authorized to do business under the laws of this state, who has or takes in tow or into custody or possession or under control, without the authorization of the owner of a registered mark or brand thereupon, any forest products or booming equipment having thereupon a mark or brand registered as required by the terms of this chapter, or, with or without such authorization, any forest products or booming equipment which may be branded under the terms of this chapter with a registered mark or brand and having no registered mark or brand impressed thereupon or cut therein; or,

(2) Who impresses upon or cut in any forest products or booming equipment a mark or brand that is false, forged or counterfeit; or,

(3) Who interferes with, prevents, or obstructs the owner of any registered mark or brand, or his or her duly authorized agent or representative, entering into or upon any tidelands, marshes or beaches of this state or any mill, mill site, mill yard or mill boom or rafting or storage grounds or any forest products or any raft or boom thereof for the purpose of searching for forest products and booming equipment having impressed thereupon a registered mark or brand belonging to him or her or retaking any forest products or booming equipment so found by him or her; or,

(4) Who impresses or cuts a catch brand that is not registered under the terms of this chapter upon or into any forest products or booming equipment upon which there is a registered mark or brand as authorized by the terms of this chapter or a catch brand, whether registered or not, upon any forest products or booming equipment that was not purchased or lawfully acquired by him or her from the owner; is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

Sec. 12. RCW 76.42.020 and 1973 c 136 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

"Wood debris" as used in this chapter is wood that is adrift on navigable waters or has been adrift thereon and stranded on beaches, marshes, or ((~~navigable [tidal]~~)) tidal and shorelands and which is not merchantable or economically salvageable under ((~~the Log Patrol Act,~~)) chapter 76.40 RCW.

"Removal" as used in this chapter shall include all activities necessary for the collection and disposal of such wood debris: PROVIDED, That nothing herein provided shall permit removal of wood debris from private property without written consent of the owner.

Sec. 13. RCW 76.42.030 and 1973 c 136 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

The department of natural resources may by contract, license, or permit, or other arrangements, cause such wood debris to be removed by ((~~licensed log patrolmen, other~~)) private contractors, department of natural resources employees, or by other public bodies. Nothing contained in this chapter shall prohibit any individual from using any nonmerchantable wood debris for his own personal use.

Sec. 14. RCW 82.16.010 and 1991 c 272 s 14 are each amended to read as follows:

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise required by the context:

(1) "Railroad business" means the business of operating any railroad, by whatever power operated, for public use in the conveyance of persons or property for hire. It shall not, however, include any business herein defined as an urban transportation business.

(2) "Express business" means the business of carrying property for public hire on the line of any common carrier operated in this state, when such common carrier is not owned or leased by the person engaging in such business.

(3) "Railroad car business" means the business of renting, leasing or operating stock cars, furniture cars, refrigerator cars, fruit cars, poultry cars, tank cars, sleeping cars, parlor cars, buffet cars, tourist cars, or any other kinds of cars used for transportation of property or persons upon the line of any railroad operated in this state when such railroad is not owned or leased by the person engaging in such business.

(4) "Water distribution business" means the business of operating a plant or system for the distribution of water for hire or sale.

(5) "Light and power business" means the business of operating a plant or system for the generation, production or distribution of electrical energy for hire or sale and/or for the wheeling of electricity for others.

(6) "Telegraph business" means the business of affording telegraphic communication for hire.

(7) "Gas distribution business" means the business of operating a plant or system for the production or distribution for hire or sale of gas, whether manufactured or natural.

(8) "Motor transportation business" means the business (except urban transportation business) of operating any motor propelled vehicle by which persons or property of others are conveyed for hire, and includes, but is not limited to, the operation of any motor propelled vehicle as an auto transportation company (except urban transportation business), common carrier or contract carrier as defined by RCW 81.68.010 and 81.80.010: PROVIDED, That "motor transportation business" shall not mean or include the transportation of logs or other forest products exclusively upon private roads or private highways.

(9) "Urban transportation business" means the business of operating any vehicle for public use in the conveyance of persons or property for hire, insofar as (a) operating entirely within the corporate limits of any city or town, or within five miles of the corporate limits thereof, or (b) operating entirely within and between cities and towns whose corporate limits are not more than five miles apart or within five miles of the corporate limits of either thereof. Included herein, but without limiting the scope hereof, is the business of operating passenger vehicles of every type and also the business of operating cartage, pickup, or delivery services, including in such services the collection and distribution of property arriving from or destined to a point within or without the state, whether or not such collection or distribution be made by the person performing a local or interstate line-haul of such property.

(10) "Public service business" means any of the businesses defined in subdivisions (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), and (9) or any business subject to control by the state, or having the powers of eminent domain and the duties incident thereto, or any business hereafter declared by the legislature to be of a public service nature, except telephone business as defined in RCW 82.04.065 and low-level radioactive waste site operating companies as redefined in RCW 81.04.010. It includes, among others, without limiting the scope hereof: Airplane transportation, boom, dock, ferry, ((~~log patrol,~~)) pipe line, toll bridge, toll logging road, water transportation and wharf businesses.

(11) "Tugboat business" means the business of operating tugboats, towboats, wharf boats or similar vessels in the towing or pushing of vessels, barges or rafts for hire.

(12) "Gross income" means the value proceeding or accruing from the performance of the particular public service or transportation business involved, including operations incidental thereto, but without any deduction on account of the cost of the commodity furnished or sold, the cost of materials used, labor costs, interest, discount, delivery costs, taxes, or any other expense whatsoever paid or accrued and without any deduction on account of losses.

(13) The meaning attributed, in chapter 82.04 RCW, to the term "tax year," "person," "value proceeding or accruing," "business," "engaging in business," "in this state," "within this state," "cash discount" and "successor" shall apply equally in the provisions of this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. REPEALER. The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:

(1) RCW 76.40.010 and 1984 c 60 s 9 & 1957 c 182 s 1;

(2) RCW 76.40.012 and 1984 c 60 s 10, 1955 c 108 s 1, & 1953 c 140 s 2;

(3) RCW 76.40.013 and 1984 c 60 s 11 & 1957 c 182 s 9;

(4) RCW 76.40.020 and 1984 c 60 s 12, 1957 c 182 s 2, 1955 c 27 s 1, 1953 c 140 s 9, & 1947 c 116 s 1;

(5) RCW 76.40.030 and 1984 c 60 s 13, 1979 ex.s. c 67 s 13, 1963 c 12 s 1, 1957 c 182 s 3, 1955 c 108 s 3, 1953 c 140 s 10, & 1947 c 116 s 3;

(6) RCW 76.40.040 and 1984 c 60 s 14, 1957 c 182 s 4, & 1947 c 116 s 5;

(7) RCW 76.40.050 and 1984 c 60 s 15, 1957 c 182 s 5, 1953 c 140 s 11, & 1947 c 116 s 5;

(8) RCW 76.40.060 and 1982 c 35 s 199 & 1947 c 116 s 6;

(9) RCW 76.40.070 and 1984 c 60 s 16, 1957 c 182 s 6, & 1947 c 116 s 8;

(10) RCW 76.40.080 and 1984 c 60 s 17 & 1947 c 116 s 9;

(11) RCW 76.40.090 and 1947 c 116 s 10;

(12) RCW 76.40.100 and 1984 c 60 s 18 & 1947 c 116 s 11;

(13) RCW 76.40.110 and 1957 c 182 s 7, 1953 c 140 s 12, & 1947 c 116 s 12;

(14) RCW 76.40.120 and 1984 c 60 s 19 & 1947 c 116 s 14;

(15) RCW 76.40.130 and 1947 c 116 s 13;

(16) RCW 76.40.135 and 1984 c 60 s 20;

(17) RCW 76.40.140 and 1984 c 60 s 21;

(18) RCW 76.40.145 and 1984 c 60 s 22;

(19) RCW 76.40.900 and 1947 c 116 s 15; and

(20) RCW 76.40.910 and 1947 c 116 s 16.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 16. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected."

SHB 2351 - S COMM AMD

By Committee on Natural Resources

NOT ADOPTED 3/4/94

On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "logs;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "amending RCW 76.36.110, 76.42.020, 76.42.030, and 82.16.010; adding new sections to chapter 76.40 RCW; creating a new section; repealing RCW 76.40.010, 76.40.012, 76.40.013, 76.40.020, 76.40.030, 76.40.040, 76.40.050, 76.40.060, 76.40.070, 76.40.080, 76.40.090, 76.40.100, 76.40.110, 76.40.120, 76.40.130, 76.40.135, 76.40.140, 76.40.145, 76.40.900, and 76.40.910; and prescribing penalties."