PEAK PUTTERS

S-3261.2
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SENATE BILL 5979
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State of Washington 62nd Legislature 2011 2nd Special Session
By Senators Honeyford, Morton, Delvin, Becker, and Schoesler AN ACT Relating to ensuring that the trust beneficiaries receive their proportionate distribution of moneys received from the sale of discover passes; and amending RCW 79A.80.090.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 79A.80.090 and 2011 c 320 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The recreation access pass account is created in the state treasury. All moneys received from the sale of discover passes and day-use permits must be deposited into the account.

(2) Each fiscal biennium, the first seventy-one million dollars in revenue must be distributed to the agencies in the following manner:
(a) Eight percent to the department of fish and wildlife and deposited into the state wildlife account created in RCW 77.12.170;
(b) Eight percent to the department of natural resources ((and)), of which: (i) Thirty percent must be deposited into the park land trust revolving fund created in RCW 43.30.385; and (ii) seventy percent must be distributed equitably to the beneficiaries of state lands and state forest lands, as those terms are defined in RCW 79.02.010, as determined by the commissioner of public lands; and
(c) Eighty-four percent to the state parks and recreation commission and deposited into the state parks renewal and stewardship account created in RCW 79A.05.215.

(3) Each fiscal biennium, revenues in excess of seventy-one million dollars must be distributed equally among the agencies to the accounts identified in subsection (2) of this section.

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SB


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So if I read this correctly 70% of the 8% DNR was supposed to be able to use on recreation can be diverted to any of the following:

(13) "State lands" includes: (a) School lands, that is, lands held in trust for the support of the common schools;
(b) University lands, that is, lands held in trust for university purposes;
(c) Agricultural college lands, that is, lands held in trust for the use and support of agricultural colleges;
(d) Scientific school lands, that is, lands held in trust for the establishment and maintenance of a scientific school;
(e) Normal school lands, that is, lands held in trust for state normal schools;
(f) Capitol building lands, that is, lands held in trust for the purpose of erecting public buildings at the state capital for legislative, executive, and judicial purposes;
(g) Institutional lands, that is, lands held in trust for state charitable, educational, penal, and reformatory institutions; and
(h) Land bank, escheat, donations, and all other lands, except aquatic lands, administered by the department that are not devoted to or reserved for a particular use by law.
(14) "Valuable materials" means any product or material on the lands, such as forest products, forage or agricultural crops, stone, gravel, sand, peat, and all other materials of value except: (a) Mineral, coal, petroleum, and gas as provided for under chapter 79.14 RCW; and (b) forest biomass as provided for under chapter 79.150 RCW.

I don't know about the percentages, but I like the fact that there is an ACT that requires the distribution to be allocated appropriately. As a user group, we are very small so we shouldn't expect a disproportionate amount of the money.

E-mail to Senator Delvin:

Just got word on this bill. It looks like some of us out here may be needing more info as to the thinking here! What I'm seeing so far for comment is not good. The general feel from the community is that this is not good for motorized recreation, particularly with DNR! If the numbers I'm seeing from folks way smarter than me are about in the ball park, this reduces the amount of Discover Pass monies to DNR from $2.40 per pass sold, to $0.72! A number of us already feel DNR is getting ripped, and this starts to feel like salt in the wound!

Dave

So, take 5979 and reconsider how Disco revenue is split and used? My hunch is, if that is addressed, and a multi vehicle change is made, there might be an increase in sales of the pass. The consensus is that DNR and Wildlife are getting ripped. DNR is the main concern for the OHV groups, as we recreate on their lands. The other two agencies don't cater to our needs at all. My idea as to the split was a bit out there, but as it stands, and if 5979 gets out of committee and passes into law, the State is not going to make any money. As you have seen, folks are staying away in droves.

Dave

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sen. Jerome Delvin" <Jerome>
To: "Dave Walters" <dave_walters>
Sent: Wednesday, December 7, 2011 1:00:51 PM
Subject: RE: An Idea

Ok Dave I'll talk to Honeyford about changing the legislation.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Walters [mailto:dave_walters@frontier.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 11:37 AM
To: Delvin, Sen. Jerome; May, Jeri
Subject: An Idea

Try this, make the pass usable for at least two rigs, change the split on monies to 60/20/20, put 10% from each to the beneficiaries, and call it a day. It's thing non transferable thing that's at issue, and this idea in 5979 just makes things worse. I understand the budget is a shambles, but lets try to find some middle ground on where what little is out there goes.

Dave

Uh, read that bottom to top...