AN ACT Relating to the administrative rate the recreation and conservation funding board may retain to administer the grant programs established in chapter 79A.15 RCW; and amending RCW 79A.15.030.

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

Sec. 1.  RCW 79A.15.030 and 2009 c 341 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Moneys appropriated for this chapter shall be divided as follows:

(a) Appropriations for a biennium of forty million dollars or less must be allocated equally between the habitat conservation account and the outdoor recreation account.

(b) If appropriations for a biennium total more than forty million dollars, the money must be allocated as follows: (i) Twenty million dollars to the habitat conservation account and twenty million dollars to the outdoor recreation account; (ii) any amount over forty million dollars up to fifty million dollars shall be allocated as follows: (A) Ten percent to the habitat conservation account; (B) ten percent to the outdoor recreation account; (C) forty percent to the riparian protection account; and (D) forty percent to the farmlands preservation account; and (iii) any amounts over fifty million dollars must be allocated as follows: (A) Thirty percent to the habitat conservation account; (B) thirty percent to the outdoor recreation account; (C) thirty percent to the riparian protection account; and (D) ten percent to the farmlands preservation account.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in chapter 303, Laws of 2005, moneys deposited in these accounts shall be invested as authorized for other state funds, and any earnings on them shall be credited to the respective account.

(3) All moneys deposited in the habitat conservation, outdoor recreation, riparian protection, and farmlands preservation accounts shall be allocated as provided under RCW 79A.15.040, 79A.15.050, 79A.15.120, and 79A.15.130 as grants to state or local agencies or nonprofit nature conservancy organizations or associations for acquisition, development, and renovation within the jurisdiction of those agencies, subject to legislative appropriation. The board may use or permit the use of any funds appropriated for this chapter as matching funds where federal, local, or other funds are made available for projects within the purposes of this chapter. Moneys appropriated to these accounts that are not obligated to a specific project may be used to fund projects from lists of alternate projects from the same account in biennia succeeding the biennium in which the moneys were originally appropriated.

(4) Projects receiving grants under this chapter that are developed or otherwise accessible for public recreational uses shall be available to the public.

(5) The board may make grants to an eligible project from the habitat conservation, outdoor recreation, riparian protection, and farmlands preservation accounts and any one or more of the applicable categories under such accounts described in RCW 79A.15.040, 79A.15.050, 79A.15.120, and 79A.15.130.

(6) The board may accept private donations to the habitat conservation account, the outdoor recreation account, the riparian protection account, and the farmlands preservation account for the purposes specified in this chapter.

(7) The board may ((apply up to three percent)) retain a portion of the funds appropriated for this chapter for its office for the administration of the programs and purposes specified in this chapter. The portion of the funds used for administration must not exceed the actual administration costs averaged over the previous five biennia as a percentage of the legislature's new appropriation for this chapter, or within the amount specified in the appropriation. Each biennium, the percentage must be approved by the office of financial management and submitted along with the prioritized lists of projects to be funded in RCW 79A.15.060(6), 79A.15.070(7), 79A.15.120(10), and 79A.15.130(11).

(8) Habitat and recreation land and facilities acquired or developed with moneys appropriated for this chapter may not, without prior approval of the board, be converted to a use other than that for which funds were originally approved. The board shall adopt rules and procedures governing the approval of such a conversion.

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