AN
ACT Relating to funding for forest fire protection; amending RCW 76.04.167 and
76.04.610; and creating a new section.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
76.04.167 and 1995 c 151 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
The legislature hereby finds and declares that:
(a)
Forest wild fires are a threat to public health and safety and can cause
catastrophic damage to public and private resources, including clean air, clean
water, fish and wildlife habitat, timber resources, forest soils, scenic
beauty, recreational opportunities, economic and employment opportunities,
structures, and other improvements; ((and that it is in the public interest
to protect forests and forest resources by preventing and suppressing forest
wild fires.))
(b)
Forest landowners and the public have a shared interest in protecting forests
and forest resources by preventing and suppressing forest wild fires;
(c)
A recent independent analysis of the state fire program considered it
imperative to restore a more equitable split between the general fund and
forest protection assessments;
(d)
Without a substantial increase in forest protection funds, the state's citizens
will be paying much more money for emergency fire suppression; and
(e)
It is therefore the intent of the legislature that the costs of fire protection
be equitably shared between the forest protection assessment account and state
contributions to ensure that there will be sufficient fire fighters who are
equipped and trained to respond quickly to fires in order to keep fires small
and manage those large fires that do occur. In recognition of increases in landowner
assessments, the legislature declares its intent that increases in the state's
share for forest protection should be provided to stabilize the funding for the
forest protection program, and that sufficient state funds should be committed
to the forest protection program so that the recommendations contained in the
1997 tridata report can be implemented on an equitable basis.
(2)
The legislature hereby finds and declares that it is in the public interest to
establish and maintain a complete, cooperative, and coordinated forest fire
protection and suppression program for the state; that, second only to saving
lives, the primary mission of the department is protecting forest resources and
suppressing forest wild fires; that a primary mission of rural fire districts
and municipal fire departments is protecting improved property and suppressing
structural fires; and that the most effective way to protect structures is for
the department to focus its efforts and resources on aggressively suppressing
forest wild fires.
(3)
The legislature also acknowledges the natural role of fire in forest
ecosystems, and finds and declares it in the public interest to use fire under
controlled conditions to prevent wild fires by maintaining healthy forests and
eliminating sources of fuel.
Sec.
2. RCW
76.04.610 and 1993 c 36 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
If any owner of forest land within a forest protection zone neglects or fails
to provide adequate fire protection as required by RCW 76.04.600, the
department shall provide such protection and shall annually impose the
following assessments on each parcel of such land: (a) A flat fee assessment
of fourteen dollars and fifty cents; and (b) ((twenty-two)) twenty-five
cents on each acre exceeding fifty acres. Assessors may, at their option,
collect the assessment on tax exempt lands. If the assessor elects not to
collect the assessment, the department may bill the landowner directly.
(2)
An owner who has paid assessments on two or more parcels, each containing fewer
than fifty acres and each within the same county, may obtain the following
refund:
(a)
If all the parcels together contain less than fifty acres, then the refund is
equal to the flat fee assessments paid, reduced by the total of (i) fourteen
dollars and (ii) the total of the amounts retained by the county from such
assessments under subsection (5) of this section.
(b)
If all the parcels together contain fifty or more acres, then the refund is
equal to the flat fee assessments paid, reduced by the total of (i) fourteen
dollars, (ii) ((twenty-two)) twenty-five cents for each acre
exceeding fifty acres, and (iii) the total of the amounts retained by the
county from such assessments under subsection (5) of this section.
Applications
for refunds shall be submitted to the department on a form prescribed by the
department and in the same year in which the assessments were paid. The
department may not provide refunds to applicants who do not provide
verification that all assessments and property taxes on the property have been
paid. Applications may be made by mail.
In
addition to the procedures under this subsection, property owners with multiple
parcels in a single county who qualify for a refund under this section may
apply to the department on an application listing all the parcels owned in
order to have the assessment computed on all parcels but billed to a single parcel.
Property owners with the following number of parcels may apply to the
department in the year indicated:
Year Number
of Parcels
2002 10
or more parcels
2003 8
or more parcels
2004 6
or more parcels
2005 4
or more parcels
2006
and thereafter 2 or more parcels
The
department must compute the correct assessment and allocate one parcel in the
county to use to collect the assessment. The county must then bill the forest
fire protection assessment on that one allocated identified parcel. The
landowner is responsible for notifying the department of any changes in parcel
ownership.
(3)
Beginning January 1, 1991, under the administration and at the discretion of
the department up to two hundred thousand dollars per year of this assessment
shall be used in support of those rural fire districts assisting the department
in fire protection services on forest lands.
(4)
For the purpose of this chapter, the department may divide the forest lands of
the state, or any part thereof, into districts, for fire protection and
assessment purposes, may classify lands according to the character of timber
prevailing, and the fire hazard existing, and place unprotected lands under the
administration of the proper district. Amounts paid or contracted to be paid
by the department for protection of forest lands from funds at its disposal
shall be a lien upon the property protected, unless reimbursed by the owner
within ten days after October 1st of the year in which they were incurred. The
department shall be prepared to make statement thereof, upon request, to a
forest owner whose own protection has not been previously approved as to its
adequacy, the department shall report the same to the assessor of the county in
which the property is situated. The assessor shall extend the amounts upon the
tax rolls covering the property, and upon authorization from the department
shall levy the forest protection assessment against the amounts of unimproved
land as shown in each ownership on the county assessor's records. The assessor
may then segregate on the records to provide that the improved land and
improvements thereon carry the millage levy designed to support the rural fire
protection districts as provided for in RCW 52.16.170.
(5)
The amounts assessed shall be collected at the time, in the same manner, by the
same procedure, and with the same penalties attached that general state and
county taxes on the same property are collected, except that errors in
assessments may be corrected at any time by the department certifying them to
the treasurer of the county in which the land involved is situated.
Assessments shall be known and designated as assessments of the year in which
the amounts became reimbursable. Upon the collection of assessments the county
treasurer shall place fifty cents of the total assessments paid on a parcel for
fire protection into the county current expense fund to defray the costs of
listing, billing, and collecting these assessments. The treasurer shall then
transmit the balance to the department. Collections shall be applied against
expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this section, including
necessary and reasonable administrative costs incurred by the department in the
enforcement of these provisions. The department may also expend sums collected
from owners of forest lands or received from any other source for necessary
administrative costs in connection with the enforcement of RCW 76.04.660.
(6)
When land against which forest protection assessments are outstanding is
acquired for delinquent taxes and sold at public auction, the state shall have
a prior lien on the proceeds of sale over and above the amount necessary to
satisfy the county's delinquent tax judgment. The county treasurer, in case
the proceeds of sale exceed the amount of the delinquent tax judgment, shall
immediately remit to the department the amount of the outstanding forest
protection assessments.
(7)
All nonfederal public bodies owning or administering forest land included in a
forest protection zone shall pay the forest protection assessments provided in
this section and the special forest fire suppression account assessments under
RCW 76.04.630. The forest protection assessments and special forest fire
suppression account assessments shall be payable by nonfederal public bodies
from available funds within thirty days following receipt of the written notice
from the department which is given after October 1st of the year in which the
protection was provided. Unpaid assessments ((shall)) are not ((be))
a lien against the nonfederal publicly owned land but shall constitute a debt
by the nonfederal public body to the department and ((shall be)) are
subject to interest charges at the legal rate.
(8)
A public body, having failed to previously pay the forest protection
assessments required of it by this section, which fails to suppress a fire on
or originating from forest lands owned or administered by it, ((shall be))
is liable for the costs of suppression incurred by the department or its
agent and ((shall)) is not ((be)) entitled to
reimbursement of costs incurred by the public body in the suppression
activities.
(9)
The department may adopt rules to implement this section, including, but not
limited to, rules on levying and collecting forest protection assessments.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 3. If
specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill or
chapter number, is not provided by June 30, 2001, in the omnibus appropriations
act, this act is null and void.
