BILL REQ. #:  S-3892.1 

Read first time 01/22/2004.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to proper uses of county road funds; and amending RCW 36.82.020, 36.82.070, and 36.82.160.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 36.82.020 and 1991 c 363 s 87 are each amended to read as follows:
     Any funds accruing to and to be deposited in the county road fund arising from any levy in any road district shall be expended for proper county road purposes. Compensation to county commissioners for the performance of their duties as road commissioners is a proper use of the county road fund.

Sec. 2   RCW 36.82.070 and 2001 c 221 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     Any money paid to any county road fund may be used for the construction, alteration, repair, improvement, or maintenance of county roads and bridges thereon and for wharves necessary for ferriage of motor vehicle traffic, and for ferries, and for the acquiring, operating, and maintaining of machinery, equipment, quarries, or pits for the extraction of materials, and for the cost of establishing county roads, acquiring rights-of-way therefor, and expenses for the operation of the county engineering office, and for any of the following programs when directly related to county road purposes: (1) Insurance; (2) self-insurance programs; and (3) risk management programs; and for any other proper county road purpose. Such expenditure may be made either independently or in conjunction with the state or any city, town, or tax district within the county. County road purposes include compensation to county commissioners for the performance of their duties as road commissioners. County road purposes also include the removal of barriers to fish passage related to county roads, and include but are not limited to the following activities associated with the removal of these barriers: Engineering and technical services; stream bank stabilization; streambed restoration; the placement of weirs, rock, or woody debris; planting; and channel modification. County road funds may be used beyond the county right-of-way for activities clearly associated with removal of fish passage barriers that are the responsibility of the county. Activities related to the removal of barriers to fish passage performed beyond the county right-of-way must not exceed twenty-five percent of the total cost of activities related to fish barrier removal on any one project, and the total annual cost of activities related to the removal of barriers to fish passage performed beyond the county rights-of-way must not exceed one-half of one percent of a county's annual road construction budget. The use of county road funds beyond the county right-of-way for activities associated with the removal of fish barriers is permissive, and wholly within the discretion of the county legislative authority. The use of county road funds beyond the county right-of-way for such activities does not create or impose a legal duty upon a county for salmon recovery work beyond the county right-of-way.

Sec. 3   RCW 36.82.160 and 1991 c 363 s 88 are each amended to read as follows:
     Each county legislative authority, with the assistance of the county road engineer, shall prepare and file with the county auditor on or before the second Monday in August in each year, detailed and itemized estimates of all expenditures required in the county for the ensuing fiscal year. In the preparation and adoption of the county road budget the legislative authority shall determine and budget sums to become available for the following county road purposes: (1) Administration, including compensation to county commissioners for the performance of their duties as road commissioners; (2) bond and warrant retirement; (3) maintenance; (4) construction; (5) operation of equipment rental and revolving fund; and (6) such other items relating to the county road budget as may be required by the county road administration board; and the respective amounts as adopted for these several items in the final budget for the ensuing calendar year shall not be altered or exceeded except as by law provided.