CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5236

Chapter 247, Laws of 2007

60th Legislature
2007 Regular Session



PUBLIC LANDS--MANAGEMENT



EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/22/07

Passed by the Senate April 14, 2007
  YEAS 49   NAYS 0

BRAD OWEN
________________________________________    
President of the Senate
Passed by the House April 3, 2007
  YEAS 96   NAYS 1

FRANK CHOPP
________________________________________    
Speaker of the House of Representatives


 
CERTIFICATE

I, Thomas Hoemann, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5236 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.

THOMAS HOEMANN
________________________________________    
Secretary
Approved April 30, 2007, 2:26 p.m.








CHRISTINE GREGOIRE
________________________________________    
Governor of the State of Washington
 
FILED
April 30, 2007







Secretary of State
State of Washington


_____________________________________________ 

SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5236
_____________________________________________

AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

Passed Legislature - 2007 Regular Session
State of Washington60th Legislature2007 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Ocean & Recreation (originally sponsored by Senators Parlette, Fraser and Rockefeller)

READ FIRST TIME 02/21/07.   



     AN ACT Relating to public lands management; adding a new section to chapter 79A.25 RCW; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 79A.25 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The habitat and recreation lands coordinating group is established. The habitat and recreation lands coordinating group must include representatives from the committee, the state parks and recreation commission, the department of natural resources, and the Washington state department of fish and wildlife. The members of the habitat and recreation lands coordinating group must have subject matter expertise with the issues presented in this section. Representatives from appropriate stakeholder organizations and local government must also be considered for participation on the habitat and recreation lands coordinating group, but may only be appointed or invited by the director.
     (2) To ensure timely completion of the duties assigned to the habitat and recreation lands coordinating group, the director shall submit yearly progress reports to the office of financial management.
     (3) The habitat and recreation lands coordinating group must:
     (a) Review agency land acquisition and disposal plans and policies to help ensure statewide coordination of habitat and recreation land acquisitions and disposals;
     (b) Produce an interagency, statewide biennial forecast of habitat and recreation land acquisitions and disposal plans;
     (c) Establish procedures for publishing the biennial forecast of acquisition and disposal plans on web sites or other centralized, easily accessible formats;
     (d) Develop and convene an annual forum for agencies to coordinate their near-term acquisition and disposal plans;
     (e) Develop a recommended method for interagency geographic information system-based documentation of habitat and recreation lands in cooperation with other state agencies using geographic information systems;
     (f) Develop recommendations for standardization of acquisition and disposal recordkeeping, including identifying a preferred process for centralizing acquisition data;
     (g) Develop an approach for monitoring the success of acquisitions;
     (h) Identify and commence a dialogue with key state and federal partners to develop an inventory of potential public lands for transfer into habitat and recreation land management status;
     (i) Review existing and proposed habitat conservation plans on a regular basis to foster statewide coordination and save costs.
     (4) The group shall revisit the committee's and Washington wildlife and recreation program's planning requirements to determine whether coordination of state agency habitat and recreation land acquisition and disposal could be improved by modifying those requirements.
     (5) The group must develop options for centralizing coordination of habitat and recreation land acquisition made with funds from federal grants. The advantages and drawbacks of the following options, at a minimum, must be developed:
     (a) Requiring that agencies provide early communication on the status of federal grant applications to the committee, the office of financial management, or directly to the legislature;
     (b) Establishing a centralized pass-through agency for federal funds, where individual agencies would be the primary applicants.
     (6) This section expires July 31, 2012. Prior to January 1, 2012, the committee shall make a formal recommendation to the appropriate committees of the legislature as to whether the existence of the habitat and recreation lands coordinating group should be continued beyond July 31, 2012, and if so, whether any modifications to its enabling statute should be pursued. The committee shall involve all participants in the habitat and recreation lands coordinating group when developing the recommendations.


         Passed by the Senate April 14, 2007.
         Passed by the House April 3, 2007.
         Approved by the Governor April 30, 2007.
         Filed in Office of Secretary of State April 30, 2007.