H-1977              _______________________________________________

                                           SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 380

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By House Committee on Environmental Affairs (originally sponsored by Representative Grimm)

Read first time 2/25/85 and passed to Committee on Rules.

AN ACT Relating to flooding; and amending RCW 86.26.050.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 7, chapter 240, Laws of 1951 as amended by section 4, chapter 212, Laws of 1984 and RCW 86.26.050 are each amended to read as follows:

          State participation shall be in such flood control maintenance projects as are affected with a general public and state interest, as differentiated from a private interest, and as are likely to bring about public benefits commensurate with the amount of state funds allocated thereto.  No participation may occur with a county or other municipal corporation unless the director of ecology ((makes a finding that)) has approved the flood plain management activities of the county, city, or town having planning jurisdiction over the area where the flood control maintenance project will be ((engages in flood plain management activities)), on the one hundred year flood plain surrounding such area((, that are adequate to protect or preclude flood damage to structures, works, and improvements that may be built within its planning jurisdiction on such flood plain after the request for state participation has been made, including restriction of land uses within a river's meander belt or floodway to only flood-compatible uses)).

The department of ecology shall adopt rules concerning the flood plain management activities of a county, city, or town that are adequate to protect or preclude flood damage to structures, works, and improvements, including the restriction of land uses within a river's meander belt or floodway to only flood-compatible uses.  Whenever the department has approved county, city, and town flood plain management activities, and as a condition of receiving an allocation of funds under this chapter, each modification, change, exception, or variance to the county, city, or town flood plain management activities must be approved by the department of ecology.

          No participation may occur with a county or other municipal corporation unless the county engineer of the county within which the flood control maintenance project is located certifies that a comprehensive flood control management plan has been completed and adopted by the appropriate local authority, or is being prepared for all portions of the river basin or other area, within which the project is located in that county, that are subject to flooding with a frequency of one hundred years or less.  Such participation shall be made from grants made by the department of ecology from the flood control assistance account.  Comprehensive flood control management plans, and any revisions to the plan, must be approved by the department of ecology.