HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1885

As Reported by House Committee On:

Environment

Title: An act relating to providing streamlining improvements in the administration of programs affecting the natural environment.

Brief Description: Providing streamlining improvements in the administration of programs affecting the natural environment.

Sponsors: Representatives Moscoso, Rolfes and Fitzgibbon.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:

Environment: 2/17/11 [DPS].

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 15 members: Representatives Upthegrove, Chair; Rolfes, Vice Chair; Short, Ranking Minority Member; Harris, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Crouse, Fitzgibbon, Jacks, Jinkins, Morris, Moscoso, Nealey, Pearson, Takko, Taylor and Tharinger.

Staff: Jason Callahan (786-7117).

Background:

There are multiple agencies responsible for the administration of statutes that affect the state's environment. These agencies include the State Parks and Recreation Commission (State Parks), the Puget Sound Partnership (PSP), and the departments of Ecology (DOE), Natural Resources (DNR), Fish and Wildlife (DFW), and Agriculture (DOA). Collectively, these agencies are known as the natural resources agencies and they manage programs as diverse as wildlife management, water resources, air quality, agricultural production, forest practices, aquatic lands management, fisheries, and outdoor recreation.

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Summary of Substitute Bill:

Certain programs administered by the various natural resources agencies are amended to remove detailed direction in the program's administration. These changes include:

• making certain mandatory administrative actions discretionary;

• removing recurring timelines from reporting requirements so reports are only produced when requested or as necessary;

• eliminating antiquated provisions and expired dates;

• providing agency flexibility in regards to program details; and

• allowing flexibility in the receipt of federal funds.

Examples of specific details include:

• providing discretion for the DOA to market shellfish aquaculture when funding allows;

• relieving the PSP from the responsibility of designating Puget Sound partners;

• removing the requirement that the State Parks maintain recycling containers that are emptied daily at at least 40 parks;

• recognizing that the DOE's noise program is defunct;

• allowing the DNR to maintain a list of fees collected in a manner deemed efficient and effective; and

• allowing the DFW to estimate the costs of capacity salmon production only when asked to do so by the Office of Financial Management.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:

The substitute bill removes provisions from the original bill, or makes changes to provisions not included in the original bill, relating to the following:

• the DNR's comprehensive annual report;

• the recording of state-owned aquatic land plats;

• five-year updates to best management procedures for waste management;

• annual instream flow reporting by the DOE;

• biennial reporting from the DOE regarding water banking;

• annual reporting by the DFW on fishing industry statistics;

• discretion on how the DFW can use money generated from selling interpretive materials;

• annual reporting from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board;

• the formation of a formal task force when a county is determined to have insufficient intertidal habitat for salmon;

• a requirement for the DFW to conduct annual meetings with volunteer groups;

• annual tabulation of salmon harvests conducted by the DFW;

• the maintenance of State Parks access to metal detector enthusiasts;

• the term given to define changes of local hazardous management plans;

• the synching of dates regarding local government submission of hazardous waste management plans and solid waste management plans;

• annual reporting by the DOE regarding the water supply inventory for the Columbia River;

• language regarding the development of the action agenda by the PSP; and

• timelines for the production of biennial State of the Sound reports by the PSP.

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Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Preliminary fiscal note available.

Effective Date of Substitute Bill: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony:

(In support) These are minor government reform options that, collectively, are intended to untie, somewhat, the hands of the agencies and provide some flexibility and cost savings to allow the agencies to focus on their priorities and frontline services. Each change has a small effect, but perhaps collectively they will amount to some current and future savings. These are small steps towards trying to take some legislatively-mandated bureaucracy out of agencies.

(Opposed) None.

Persons Testifying: Representative Moscoso, prime sponsor; and Lenny Young, Department of Natural Resources.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.