S-1535.1                   _______________________________________________

                                                     SENATE BILL 5775

                              _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By Senators Fraser, Barr and M. Rasmussen

Read first time 02/12/93.  Referred to Committee on Ecology & Parks.

Providing a tax incentive for the donation of conservation easements by private landowners whose land is included in the natural heritage information system.

          AN ACT Relating to tax status of privately owned property included on the natural heritage information system; amending RCW 84.34.055 and 84.34.060; and creating a new section.

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

        Sec. 1.  RCW 84.34.055 and 1988 c 36 s 62 are each amended to read as follows:

          OPEN SPACE PRIORITIES‑-OPEN SPACE PLAN AND PUBLIC BENEFIT RATING SYSTEM.  (1) The county legislative authority may direct the county planning commission to set open space priorities and adopt, after a public hearing, an open space plan and public benefit rating system for the county.  The plan shall consist of criteria for determining eligibility of lands, the process for establishing a public benefit rating system, and an assessed valuation schedule.  Except as provided by RCW 84.34.060(2), the assessed valuation schedule shall be developed by the county assessor and shall be a percentage of market value based upon the public benefit rating system.  The open space plan, the public benefit rating system, and the assessed valuations schedule shall not be effective until approved by the county legislative authority after at least one public hearing:  PROVIDED, That any county which has complied with the procedural requisites of ((this act)) chapter 393, Laws of 1985, prior to July 28, 1985, need not repeat those procedures in order to adopt an open space plan pursuant to ((this act)) chapter 393, Laws of 1985.

          (2) In adopting an open space plan, recognized sources shall be used unless the county does its own survey of important open space priorities or features, or both.  Recognized sources include but are not limited to the natural heritage data base; the state office of historic preservation; the interagency committee for outdoor recreation inventory of dry accretion beach and shoreline features; state, national, county, or city registers of historic places; the shoreline master program; or studies by the parks and recreation commission and by the departments of fisheries, wildlife, and natural resources.  Features and sites may be verified by an outside expert in the field and approved by the appropriate state or local agency to be sent to the county legislative authority for final approval as open space.

          (3) When the county open space plan is adopted, owners of open space lands then classified under this chapter shall be notified in the same manner as is provided in RCW 84.40.045 of their new assessed value.  These lands may be removed from classification, upon request of owner, without penalty within thirty days of notification of value.

          (4) The open space plan and public benefit rating system under this section may be adopted for taxes payable in 1986 and thereafter.

        Sec. 2.  RCW 84.34.060 and 1992 c 69 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:

          DETERMINATION OF TRUE AND FAIR VALUE OF CLASSIFIED LAND‑-COMPUTATION OF ASSESSED VALUE.  (1) In determining the true and fair value of open space land and timber land, which has been classified as such under the provisions of this chapter, the assessor shall consider only the use to which such property and improvements is currently applied and shall not consider potential uses of such property.  The assessed valuation of open space land shall not be less than the minimum value per acre of classified farm and agricultural land except that the assessed valuation of open space land may be valued based on the public benefit rating system adopted under RCW 84.34.055 unless the land meets the criteria under subsection (2) of this section:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That timber land shall be valued according to chapter 84.33 RCW.

(2) The assessed value of property that (a) is included in the natural heritage information system under chapter 79.70 RCW, (b) is classified as open space, (c) is subject to a donated conservation easement held by an entity under RCW 84.34.220, and (d) that prior to the classification as open space was either classified as timber land or farm and agricultural land, shall be the lower of the assessed value of the property under its previous classification or its current classification.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  CAPTIONS.  Captions as used in this act constitute no part of the law.

                                                           --- END ---