BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to habitat protection; and amending RCW 35.67.010, 36.89.010, 36.89.030, 36.94.010, 36.94.020, 85.38.180, 86.15.010, and 86.15.100.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 35.67.010 and 1997 c 447 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:

A "system of sewerage" means and may include any or all of the following:

(1) Sanitary sewage collection, treatment, and/or disposal facilities and services, on-site or off-site sanitary sewerage facilities, inspection services and maintenance services for public or private on-site systems, or any other means of sewage treatment and disposal approved by the city;

(2) Combined sanitary sewage disposal and storm or surface water sewers;

(3) Natural or constructed storm or surface water ((~~sewers~~)) facilities;

(4) Outfalls for storm drainage or sanitary sewage and works, plants, and facilities for storm drainage or sanitary sewage treatment and disposal, and rights and interests in property relating to the system, including the acquisition, protection, maintenance, restoration, and rehabilitation of aquatic resources and fish habitat;

(5) Combined water and sewerage systems;

(6) Point and nonpoint water pollution monitoring programs that are directly related to the sewerage facilities and programs operated by a city or town;

(7) Public restroom and sanitary facilities; and

(8) Any combination of or part of any or all of such facilities.

The words "public utility" when used in this chapter has the same meaning as the words "system of sewerage."

Sec. 2. RCW 36.89.010 and 1970 ex.s. c 30 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

The words "governmental agency" as used in this chapter mean the United States of America, the state or any agency, subdivision, taxing district or municipal or quasi municipal corporation thereof.

The word "highways" as used in this chapter means all public roads, streets, expressways, parkways, scenic drives, bridges and other public ways, including without limitation, traffic control facilities, special lanes, turnouts or structures in, upon, over or under such public ways for exclusive or nonexclusive use by public transit vehicles, and landscaping, visual and sound buffers between such public ways and adjacent properties.

The words "open space, park, recreation and community facilities" as used in this chapter mean any public facility, improvement, development, property or right or interest therein for public park, recreational, green belt, arboretum, multi-purpose community center (as defined in RCW 35.59.010), museum, zoo, aquarium, auditorium, exhibition, athletic, historic, scenic, viewpoint, aesthetic, ornamental or natural resource preservation purposes.

The words "public health and safety facilities" as used in this chapter mean any public facility, improvement, development, property or right or interest therein, made, constructed or acquired for the purpose of protecting life from disease or injury, enforcing the criminal and civil laws or protecting property from damage caused by breach of law, including but not limited to public hospitals, health laboratories, public health clinics or service centers, custodial, correction or rehabilitation facilities, courtrooms, crime laboratories, law enforcement equipment and facilities, training facilities for specialized personnel, facilities for the collection, storage, retrieval or communication of information, and mobile, support or administrative facilities, all as necessary for the foregoing purpose, or any combination of the facilities herein described.

The words "storm water control facilities" as used in this chapter mean any facility, natural or constructed, improvement, development, property or interest therein, made, constructed, maintained, restored, rehabilitated, used, or acquired for the purpose of controlling, or protecting life or property, as well as aquatic resources and fish habitat, from, any storm, waste, flood or surplus waters wherever located within the county, and shall include but not be limited to the improvements and authority described in RCW 86.12.020 and chapters 86.13 and 86.15 RCW.

The word "county" as used in this chapter shall mean any county of the state of Washington.

Sec. 3. RCW 36.89.030 and 1984 c 7 s 42 are each amended to read as follows:

Counties are authorized to establish, acquire, develop, construct, maintain, protect, restore, rehabilitate, and improve open space, park, recreation, and community facilities, public health and safety facilities, storm water control facilities, and highways or any of them pursuant to the provisions of this chapter within and without the cities and towns of the county and for such purposes have the power to acquire lands, buildings and other facilities by gift, grant, purchase, condemnation, lease, devise, and bequest, to construct, improve, or maintain buildings, structures, and facilities necessary for such purposes, and to use and develop for such purposes the air rights over and the subsurface rights under any highway. The approval of the state department of transportation shall be first secured for such use and development of any state highway. For visual or sound buffer purposes the county shall not acquire by condemnation less than an owner's entire interest or right in the particular real property to be so acquired if the owner objects to the taking of a lesser interest or right.

Sec. 4. RCW 36.94.010 and 1997 c 447 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:

As used in this chapter:

(1) A "system of sewerage" means and may include any or all of the following:

(a) Sanitary sewage collection, treatment, and/or disposal facilities and services, including without limitation on-site or off-site sanitary sewerage facilities, inspection services and maintenance services for private or public on-site systems, or any other means of sewage treatment and disposal approved by the county;

(b) Combined sanitary sewage disposal and storm or surface water drains and facilities;

(d) Outfalls for storm drainage or sanitary sewage and works, plants, and facilities for storm drainage or sanitary sewage treatment and disposal, and rights and interests in property relating to the system;

(e) Combined water and sewerage systems;

(f) Point and nonpoint water pollution monitoring programs that are directly related to the sewerage facilities and programs operated by a county;

(g) Public restroom and sanitary facilities;

(h) The facilities and services authorized in RCW 36.94.020; and

(i) Any combination of or part of any or all of such facilities.

(2) A "system of water" means and includes:

(a) A water distribution system, including dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, aquifers and other ground water resources, plants, pumping stations, transmission and lateral distribution lines and other facilities for distribution of water;

(b) A combined water and sewerage system;

(3) A "sewerage and/or water general plan" means a general plan for a system of sewerage and/or water for the county which shall be an element of the comprehensive plan established by the county pursuant to RCW 36.70.350(6) and/or chapter 35.63 RCW, if there is such a comprehensive plan.

(a) A sewerage general plan shall include the general location and description of treatment and disposal facilities, trunk and interceptor sewers, pumping stations, monitoring and control facilities, channels, local service areas and a general description of the collection system to serve those areas, a description of on-site sanitary sewerage system inspection services and maintenance services, and other facilities and services as may be required to provide a functional and implementable plan, including preliminary engineering to assure feasibility. The plan may also include a description of the regulations deemed appropriate to carrying out surface drainage plans.

(b) A water general plan shall include the general location and description of water resources to be utilized, wells, treatment facilities, transmission lines, storage reservoirs, pumping stations, and monitoring and control facilities as may be required to provide a functional and implementable plan.

(c) Water and/or sewerage general plans shall include preliminary engineering in adequate detail to assure technical feasibility and, to the extent then known, shall further discuss the methods of distributing the cost and expense of the system and shall indicate the economic feasibility of plan implementation. The plans may also specify local or lateral facilities and services. The sewerage and/or water general plan does not mean the final engineering construction or financing plans for the system.

(4) "Municipal corporation" means and includes any city, town, metropolitan municipal corporation, any public utility district which operates and maintains a sewer or water system, any sewer, water, diking, or drainage district, any diking, drainage, and sewerage improvement district, and any irrigation district.

(5) A "private utility" means and includes all utilities, both public and private, which provide sewerage and/or water service and which are not municipal corporations within the definition of this chapter. The ownership of a private utility may be in a corporation, nonprofit or for profit, in a cooperative association, in a mutual organization, or in individuals.

(6) "Board" means one or more boards of county commissioners and/or the legislative authority of a home rule charter county.

Sec. 5. RCW 36.94.020 and 1997 c 447 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:

The construction, operation, ((~~and~~)) maintenance, restoration, and rehabilitation of a system of sewerage and/or water is a county purpose. Subject to the provisions of this chapter, every county has the power, individually or in conjunction with another county or counties to adopt, provide for, accept, establish, condemn, purchase, construct, add to, operate, ((~~and~~)) maintain, restore, and rehabilitate a system or systems of sanitary and storm sewers, including outfalls, interceptors, plans, and facilities and services necessary for sewerage treatment and disposal, and/or system or systems of water supply within all or a portion of the county. However, counties shall not have power to condemn sewerage and/or water systems of any municipal corporation or private utility.

Such county or counties shall have the authority to control, regulate, operate, and manage such system or systems and to provide funds therefor by general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, local improvement district bonds, utility local improvement district or local improvement district assessments, and in any other lawful fiscal manner. Rates or charges for on-site inspection and maintenance services may not be imposed under this chapter on the development, construction, or reconstruction of property.

Under this chapter, after July 1, 1998, any requirements for pumping the septic tank of an on-site sewage system should be based, among other things, on actual measurement of accumulation of sludge and scum by a trained inspector, trained owner's agent, or trained owner. Training must occur in a program approved by the state board of health or by a local health officer.

Before adopting on-site inspection and maintenance utility services, or incorporating residences into an on-site inspection and maintenance or sewer utility under this chapter, notification must be provided, prior to the applicable public hearing, to all residences within the proposed service area that have on-site systems permitted by the local health officer. The notice must clearly state that the residence is within the proposed service area and must provide information on estimated rates or charges that may be imposed for the service.

A county shall not provide on-site sewage system inspection, pumping services, or other maintenance or repair services under this section using county employees unless the on-site system is connected by a publicly owned collection system to the county's sewerage system, and the on-site system represents the first step in the sewage disposal process. Nothing in this section shall affect the authority of a state or local health officer to carry out their responsibilities under any other applicable law.

A county may, as part of a system of sewerage established under this chapter, provide for, finance, and operate any of the facilities and services and may exercise the powers expressly authorized for county storm water, flood control, pollution prevention, and drainage services and activities under chapters 36.89, 86.12, 86.13, and 86.15 RCW. A county also may provide for, finance, and operate the facilities and services and may exercise any of the powers authorized for aquifer protection areas under chapter 36.36 RCW; for lake management districts under chapter 36.61 RCW; for diking districts, and diking, drainage, and sewerage improvement districts under chapters 85.05, 85.08, 85.15, 85.16, and 85.18 RCW; and for shellfish protection districts under chapter 90.72 RCW. Additionally, as part of a system of storm, surface water, sewerage, or water facilities, a county may provide for the acquisition, protection, maintenance, restoration, and rehabilitation of aquatic resources and fish habitat. However, if a county by reference to any of those statutes assumes as part of its system of sewerage any powers granted to such areas or districts and not otherwise available to a county under this chapter, then (1) the procedures and restrictions applicable to those areas or districts apply to the county's exercise of those powers, and (2) the county may not simultaneously impose rates and charges under this chapter and under the statutes authorizing such areas or districts for substantially the same facilities and services, but must instead impose uniform rates and charges consistent with RCW 36.94.140. By agreement with such an area or district that is not part of a county's system of sewerage, a county may operate that area's or district's services or facilities, but a county may not dissolve any existing area or district except in accordance with any applicable provisions of the statute under which that area or district was created.

Sec. 6. RCW 85.38.180 and 1991 c 349 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:

A special district may:

(1) Engage in flood control activities, and investigate, plan, construct, acquire, repair, maintain, and operate improvements, works, projects, programs, and facilities necessary to prevent inundation or flooding from rivers, streams, tidal waters or other waters. Such natural or constructed facilities include dikes, levees, dams, banks, revetments, channels, canals, ((~~and~~)) ditches, other ((~~works~~)) facilities and water bodies, appliances, machinery, and equipment.

(2) Engage in drainage control, storm water control, and surface water control activities, and investigate, plan, construct, acquire, repair, maintain, and operate improvements, works, projects, and facilities necessary to control, protect, manage, and treat storm water, surface water, and flood water. Such natural or constructed facilities include drains, ditches, canals, other water bodies, nonsanitary sewers, pumps, and other ((~~works~~)) facilities, appliances, machinery, and equipment.

(3) Engage in lake or river restoration, aquatic plant control, and water quality enhancement activities, including providing for the acquisition, protection, maintenance, restoration, and rehabilitation of aquatic resources and fish habitat.

(4) Take actions necessary to protect life and property from inundation or flow of flood waters, storm waters, or surface waters.

(5) Acquire, purchase, condemn by power of eminent domain pursuant to chapters 8.08 and 8.25 RCW, or lease, in its own name, necessary property, property rights, facilities, and equipment.

(6) Sell or exchange surplus property, property rights, facilities, and equipment.

(7) Accept funds and property by loan, grant, gift, or otherwise from the United States, the state of Washington, or any other public or private source.

(8) Hire staff, employees, or services, or use voluntary labor.

(9) Sue and be sued.

(10) Cooperate with or join the United States, the state of Washington, or any other public or private entity or person for district purposes.

(11) Enter into contracts.

(12) Exercise any of the usual powers of a corporation for public purposes.

Sec. 7. RCW 86.15.010 and 1983 c 315 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions set forth in this section apply through this chapter.

(1) "Board" means the county legislative authority.

(2) "Flood control improvement" means any works, projects, programs, or ((~~other~~)) facilities necessary for the control of flood waters within the county or any zone or zones.

(3) "Flood waters" and "storm waters" means any storm waste or surplus waters, including surface water, wherever located within the county or a zone or zones where such waters endanger public highways, streams and water courses, harbors, life, or property.

(4) "Participating zones" means two or more zones found to benefit from a single flood control improvement or storm water control improvement.

(5) "Storm water control improvement" means any works, projects, programs, or ((~~other~~)) facilities, both natural or constructed, necessary to control, protect, manage, and treat storm water within the county or any zone or zones.

(6) "Supervisors" means the board of supervisors, or governing body, of a zone.

(7) "Zones" means flood control zone districts which are quasi municipal corporations of the state of Washington created by this chapter.

Sec. 8. RCW 86.15.100 and 1983 c 315 s 14 are each amended to read as follows:

The supervisors may authorize the construction, extension, enlargement, repair, maintenance, provision, or acquisition of necessary flood control or storm water control improvements within the zone or any participating zones. The improvements may include, but shall not be limited to the extension, enlargement, repair, maintenance, construction, or acquisition of dikes and levees, drain and drainage systems, dams and reservoirs, or other flood control or storm water control improvements; widening, straightening, or relocating of stream or water courses; and the acquisition, extension, enlargement, repair, maintenance, or construction of any works necessary for the protection, restoration, and rehabilitation of aquatic resources, fish habitat, stream and water courses, channels, harbors, life, and property.