READ FIRST TIME 02/28/07.   

     AN ACT Relating to specialized forest products; amending RCW 76.48.130, 76.48.020, and 76.48.030; creating new sections; and providing expiration dates.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 76.48.130 and 1995 c 366 s 13 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A person who violates a provision of this chapter, other than the provisions contained in RCW 76.48.120, as now or hereafter amended, is guilty of a gross misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment in the county jail for not to exceed one year or by both a fine and imprisonment.
     (2) In any prosecution for a violation of this chapter's requirements to obtain or possess a specialized forest products permit or true copy thereof, an authorization, sales invoice, or bill of lading, it is an affirmative defense, if established by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence, that: (a) The specialized forest products were harvested from the defendant's own land; or (b) the specialized forest products were harvested with the permission of the landowner.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1) The specialized forest products work group is established. The work group must consist of appropriate representation from: The department of natural resources; county sheriffs; county prosecutors; industrial and small forest landowners; tribes; recreational and professional wood carvers; cedar and specialty wood processors; and other appropriate persons invited by the commissioner of public lands.
     (2) The specialized forest products work group must review the current specialized forest products statute, chapter 76.48 RCW, as well as applicable theft laws. The specialized forest products work group must evaluate the statute, as well as its application, and make recommendations, if any, to ensure that the specialized forest products requirements: Provide reasonable tools for law enforcement and reasonably protect landowners from theft; are not unduly burdensome to harvesters, those possessing or transporting specialized forest products, or cedar or specialty wood processors or buyers; are clear and may be readily understood by law enforcement and the public; and are administered and enforced consistently throughout the state.
     (3) The specialized forest products work group must be staffed by the department of natural resources.
     (4) The specialized forest products work group must provide a report to the appropriate committees of the legislature containing its recommendations, as well as draft legislation implementing its recommendations, by December 1, 2007.
     (5) This section expires July 1, 2008.

Sec. 3   RCW 76.48.020 and 2005 c 401 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Authorization" means a properly completed preprinted form authorizing the transportation or possession of Christmas trees which contains the information required by RCW 76.48.080, a sample of which is filed before the harvesting occurs with the sheriff of the county in which the harvesting is to occur.
     (2) "Bill of lading" means a written or printed itemized list or statement of particulars pertinent to the transportation or possession of a specialized forest product.
     (3) "Cascara bark" means the bark of a Cascara tree.
     (4) "Cedar processor" means any person who purchases, takes, or retains possession of cedar products or cedar salvage for later sale in the same or modified form following removal and delivery from the land where harvested.
     (5) "Cedar products" means cedar shakeboards, shake and shingle bolts, and rounds one to three feet in length.
     (6) "Cedar salvage" means cedar chunks, slabs, stumps, and logs having a volume greater than one cubic foot and being harvested or transported from areas not associated with the concurrent logging of timber stands (a) under a forest practices application approved or notification received by the department of natural resources, or (b) under a contract or permit issued by an agency of the United States government.
     (7) "Christmas trees" means any evergreen trees or the top thereof, commonly known as Christmas trees, with limbs and branches, with or without roots, including fir, pine, spruce, cedar, and other coniferous species.
     (8) "Cut or picked evergreen foliage," commonly known as brush, means evergreen boughs, huckleberry foliage, salal, fern, Oregon grape, rhododendron, mosses, bear grass, scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius), and other cut or picked evergreen products. "Cut or picked evergreen foliage" does not mean cones, berries, any foliage that does not remain green year-round, or seeds.
     (9) "Harvest" means to separate, by cutting, prying, picking, peeling, breaking, pulling, splitting, or otherwise removing, a specialized forest product (a) from its physical connection or contact with the land or vegetation upon which it is or was growing or (b) from the position in which it is lying upon the land.
     (10) "Harvest site" means each location where one or more persons are engaged in harvesting specialized forest products close enough to each other that communication can be conducted with an investigating law enforcement officer in a normal conversational tone.
     (11) "Huckleberry" means the following species of edible berries, if they are not nursery grown: Vaccinium membranaceum, Vaccinium deliciosum, Vaccinium ovatum, Vaccinium parvifolium, Vaccinium globulare, Vaccinium ovalifolium, Vaccinium alaskaense, Vaccinium caespitosum, Vaccinium occidentale, Vaccinium uliginosum, Vaccinium myrtillus, and Vaccinium scoparium.
     (12) "Landowner" means, with regard to real property, the private owner, the state of Washington or any political subdivision, the federal government, or a person who by deed, contract, or lease has authority to harvest and sell forest products of the property. "Landowner" does not include the purchaser or successful high bidder at a public or private timber sale.
     (((12))) (13) "Native ornamental trees and shrubs" means any trees or shrubs which are not nursery grown and which have been removed from the ground with the roots intact.
     (((13))) (14) "Permit area" means a designated tract of land that may contain single or multiple harvest sites.
     (((14))) (15) "Person" includes the plural and all corporations, foreign or domestic, copartnerships, firms, and associations of persons.
     (((15))) (16) "Processed cedar products" means cedar shakes, shingles, fence posts, hop poles, pickets, stakes, rails, or rounds less than one foot in length.
     (((16))) (17) "Sheriff" means, for the purpose of validating specialized forest products permits, the county sheriff, deputy sheriff, or an authorized employee of the sheriff's office or an agent of the office.
     (((17))) (18) "Specialized forest products" means Christmas trees, native ornamental trees and shrubs, cut or picked evergreen foliage, cedar products, cedar salvage, processed cedar products, specialty wood, wild edible mushrooms, and Cascara bark.
     (((18))) (19) "Specialized forest products permit" means a printed document in a form printed by the department of natural resources, or true copy thereof, that is signed by a landowner or his or her authorized agent or representative, referred to in this chapter as "permittors" and validated by the county sheriff and authorizes a designated person, referred to in this chapter as "permittee," who has also signed the permit, to harvest and transport a designated specialized forest product from land owned or controlled and specified by the permittor and that is located in the county where the permit is issued.
     (((19))) (20) "Specialty wood" means wood that is:
     (a) In logs less than eight feet in length, chunks, slabs, stumps, or burls; and
     (b) One or more of the following:
     (i) Of the species western red cedar, Englemann spruce, Sitka spruce, big leaf maple, or western red alder;
     (ii) Without knots in a portion of the surface area at least twenty-one inches long and seven and a quarter inches wide when measured from the outer surface toward the center; or
     (iii) Suitable for the purposes of making musical instruments or ornamental boxes.
     (((20))) (21) "Specialty wood buyer" means the first person that receives any specialty wood product after it leaves the harvest site.
     (((21))) (22) "Specialty wood processor" means any person who purchases, takes, or retains possession of specialty wood products or specialty wood salvage for later sale in the same or modified form following removal and delivery from the land where harvested.
     (((22))) (23) "Transportation" means the physical conveyance of specialized forest products outside or off of a harvest site by any means.
     (((23))) (24) "True copy" means a replica of a validated specialized forest products permit as reproduced by a copy machine capable of effectively reproducing the information contained on the permittee's copy of the specialized forest products permit. A copy is made true by the permittee or the permittee and permittor signing in the space provided on the face of the copy. A true copy will be effective until the expiration date of the specialized forest products permit unless the permittee or the permittee and permittor specify an earlier date. A permittor may require the actual signatures of both the permittee and permittor for execution of a true copy by so indicating in the space provided on the original copy of the specialized forest products permit. A permittee, or, if so indicated, the permittee and permittor, may condition the use of the true copy to harvesting only, transportation only, possession only, or any combination thereof.
     (((24))) (25) "Wild edible mushrooms" means edible mushrooms not cultivated or propagated by artificial means.

Sec. 4   RCW 76.48.030 and 1995 c 366 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     It is unlawful for any person to:
     (1) Harvest specialized forest products as described in RCW 76.48.020, in the quantities specified in RCW 76.48.060, without first obtaining a validated specialized forest products permit;
     (2) Engage in activities or phases of harvesting specialized forest products not authorized by the permit; ((or))
     (3) Harvest specialized forest products in any lesser quantities than those specified in RCW 76.48.060, as now or hereafter amended, without first obtaining permission from the landowner or his or her duly authorized agent or representative; or
     (4) Harvest huckleberries in any amount using a rake, mechanical device, or any other method that damages the huckleberry bush.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   (1) By December 1, 2007, the department of natural resources must review the uses of and demands on the state's wild huckleberry resource, and estimate whether the current consumptive uses of wild huckleberries are sustainable and compatible among the various consumptive users of the resource. Based upon this review, the department of natural resources must deliver recommendations to the appropriate committees of the legislature as to whether a state-permitting requirement to harvest, possess, or transport wild huckleberries would remedy any problems identified during the review, whether the specialized forest products permit would be the most effective permitting program to utilize, and what permit conditions or requirements should be placed on the harvest, possession, or transportation of wild huckleberries.
     (2) This section expires July 1, 2008.