| Passed by the Senate February 14, 2014 YEAS 49 BRAD OWEN ________________________________________ President of the Senate Passed by the House March 6, 2014 YEAS 96 FRANK CHOPP ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives | I, Hunter G. Goodman, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6446 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. HUNTER G. GOODMAN ________________________________________ Secretary | |
| Approved March 19, 2014, 3:03 p.m. JAY INSLEE ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | March 19, 2014 Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 63rd Legislature | 2014 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/06/14.
AN ACT Relating to payments in lieu of taxes on county game lands; amending RCW 77.12.203; and providing an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 77.12.203 and 2013 2nd sp.s. c 4 s 999 are each
amended to read as follows:
(1) Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section and
notwithstanding RCW 84.36.010 or other statutes to the contrary, the
director ((shall)) must pay by April 30th of each year on game lands,
regardless of acreage, in each county, if requested by an election
under RCW 77.12.201, an amount in lieu of real property taxes equal to
that amount paid on similar parcels of open space land taxable under
chapter 84.34 RCW or the greater of seventy cents per acre per year or
the amount paid in 1984 plus an additional amount for control of
noxious weeds equal to that which would be paid if such lands were
privately owned. This amount ((shall)) may not be assessed or paid on
department buildings, structures, facilities, game farms, fish
hatcheries, water access sites, tidelands, or public fishing areas ((of
less than one hundred acres)).
(2) "Game lands," as used in this section and RCW 77.12.201, means
those tracts ((one hundred acres or larger)), regardless of acreage,
owned in fee by the department and used for wildlife habitat and public
recreational purposes. All lands purchased for wildlife habitat,
public access or recreation purposes with federal funds in the Snake
River drainage basin ((shall be)) are considered game lands regardless
of acreage.
(3) This section ((shall)) does not apply to lands transferred
after April 23, 1990, to the department from other state agencies.
(4) The county ((shall)) must distribute the amount received under
this section in lieu of real property taxes to all property taxing
districts except the state in appropriate tax code areas the same way
it would distribute local property taxes from private property. The
county ((shall)) must distribute the amount received under this section
for weed control to the appropriate weed district.
(5) For the 2011-2013 and 2013-2015 fiscal biennia, the director
((shall)) must pay by April 30th of each year on game lands in each
county, if requested by an election under RCW 77.12.201, an amount in
lieu of real property taxes and ((shall)) must be distributed as
follows:
| County |
| Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,909 |
| Asotin . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,123 |
| Chelan . . . . . . . . . . . . 24,757 |
| Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,795 |
| Ferry . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,781 |
| Garfield . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,840 |
| Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,443 |
| Kittitas . . . . . . . . . . . . 143,974 |
| Klickitat . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,906 |
| Lincoln . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,535 |
| Okanogan . . . . . . . . . . . . 151,402 |
| Pend Oreille . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,309 |
| Yakima . . . . . . . . . . . . 126,225 |
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 This act takes effect July 1, 2015.