Here's the text of what I received for a draft.
I'm highlighting the stuff of interest to us.
I'm highlighting the stuff of interest to us.
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Sherry McNamara 786-7402
Senate Committee Services
January 16, 2011 (11:15 AM)
AN ACT Relating to reforming recreation access on state lands to enhance natural resource conservation; adding a new section to chapter .... RCW; adding a new chapter to Title .... RCW; creating new sections; repealing RCW ...; and providing effective dates.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that there is an increasing demand for outdoor recreation opportunities and conservation measures on lands managed by the department of fish and wildlife, the department of natural resources, and the parks and recreation commission. Development and maintenance of outdoor recreation facilities and conservation of lands have not kept pace with this demand. This demand, combined with shrinking resources for management, has led to the degradation of our lands to the detriment
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of the recreating public and efforts to conserve our natural resources.
(2) The legislature further finds that the recreating public cannot readily discern which agency of the state is responsible for the management of particular state lands or which policies apply to those lands.
(3) It is the intent of this act to reform and improve access to and management of state lands on a sustainable basis for the recreating public by: Providing an integrated personal and vehicle access permit and access policies for state lands; recovering the cost incurred by the state for operations and management of recreation opportunities; providing resources to address the growing demand and impacts of outdoor recreationists and conservation of our natural resources; providing effective education and enforcement of state land access policies; and implementing some of the recommendations of the sustainable recreation workgroup created in chapter 195, Laws of 2008.
NEW SECTION. Sec.2. The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Agency" or "agencies" means the department of fish and wildlife, the department of natural resources, and the parks and recreation commission.
(2) "Annual pass" means the [name?] annual pass created in section 3 of this act.
(3) "Recreation site" means those areas designated by an agency where the annual pass or day-use permit is required.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) The annual pass is created as a renewable annual pass that is valid at any recreation site pursuant to Section 5.
(2) Cost of an annual pass is forty dollars per vehicle, or thirty dollars per vehicle if acquired with an initial or renewal of vehicle registration as provided under RCW 46.16A.090. The cost of the annual pass must be adjusted for inflation by the office of financial management subject to the limitation contained in RCW 43.135.055(1).
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(3)(a) The annual pass must be made available for purchase throughout the year and through the department of fish and wildlife's automated licensing system consistent with RCW 77.32.050.
(b) The annual pass must also be available for purchase through the department of licensing. The department of licensing must include a notice of the availability of the pass, including the opportunity to renew the annual pass, in each notice of vehicle registration renewals. The department of licensing must also encourage private vendors to distribute the annual pass and to make the annual pass available for a person renewing vehicle license tabs on-line.
(e) The annual pass must contain space for the vehicle license plate number. Vehicles that are not required to be licensed by the department of licensing for highway use are exempt from the requirements of this section.
(4) A complimentary annual pass must be provided to a volunteer who performed forty hours of service on agency sanctioned volunteer projects in a year. The agency must provide vouchers to volunteers identifying the number of volunteer hours they have provided for each projects. The vouchers may be brought to an agency to be redeemed for an annual pass.
(5) The annual pass is not required for persons who use, possess, or enter lands owned or managed by the agencies for purposes consistent with a written authorization from the agency, including but not limited to leases, contracts, and easements.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A person may purchase a day-use permit to meet the requirements of Section 5. The day-use permit is ten dollars per day and must be available for purchase from each agency.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) The annual pass or the day-use permit must be displayed in the front windshield of any vehicle parked at a recreation site.
(2) The individual annual pass holder must record the vehicle license plate number on the pass before parking at a recreation site.
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(3) The annual pass is not required on private lands, state-owned aquatic lands other than water access areas, or at agency offices, hatcheries, or other facilities where public business is conducted.
(4) Failure to display the annual pass is a natural resource infraction under chapter 7.84 RCW. An agency is authorized to issue a notice of infraction to any person who fails to comply with this section.
(5) (a) The penalty for failure to comply with the annual pass requirements in this section is ninety-nine dollars. This penalty is reduced to fifty-nine dollars if an individual provides proof of purchase of the annual pass to the court within fifteen days after the issuance of the notice of violation.
(b) Penalties collected under this section must be deposited in
the account created in Section 6.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The [name of annual pass and day permit]
account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All moneys
received for annual pass and day permits and all moneys derived from
fines imposed under this chapter shall be deposited into the
account.
Moneys received in the account must be distributed to the agencies in the following manner:
Eight percent to the Department of Fish and Wildlife [account?]
Eight percent to the Department of Natural Resources [account?]
Eighty-four percent to the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission [account?]
Sec. 7. RCW 4.24.210 and 2006 c 212 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
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(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) or (4) of this section, any public or private landowners or others in lawful possession and control of any lands whether designated resource, rural, or urban, or water areas or channels and lands adjacent to such areas or channels, who allow members of the public to use them for the purposes of outdoor recreation, which term includes, but is not limited to, the cutting, gathering, and removing of firewood by private persons for their personal use without purchasing the firewood from the landowner, hunting, fishing, camping, picnicking, swimming, hiking, bicycling, skateboarding or other nonmotorized wheel-based activities, hanggliding, paragliding, rock climbing, the riding of horses or other animals, clam digging, pleasure driving of off-road vehicles, snowmobiles, and other vehicles, boating, nature study, winter or water sports, viewing or enjoying historical, archaeological, scenic, or scientific sites, without charging a fee of any kind therefor, shall not be liable for unintentional injuries to such users.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) or (4) of this section, any public or private landowner or others in lawful possession and control of any lands whether rural or urban, or water areas or channels and lands adjacent to such areas or channels, who offer or allow such land to be used for purposes of a fish or wildlife cooperative project, or allow access to such land for cleanup of litter or other solid waste, shall not be liable for unintentional injuries to any volunteer group or to any other users.
(3) Any public or private landowner, or others in lawful possession and control of the land, may charge an administrative fee of up to twenty-five dollars for the cutting, gathering, and removing of firewood from the land.
(4) Nothing in this section shall prevent the liability of a landowner or others in lawful possession and control for injuries sustained to users by reason of a known dangerous artificial latent condition for which warning signs have not been conspicuously posted. A fixed anchor used in rock climbing and put in place by someone other
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than a landowner is not a known dangerous artificial latent condition and a landowner under subsection (1) of this section shall not be liable for unintentional injuries resulting from the condition or use of such an anchor. Nothing in RCW 4.24.200 and this section limits or expands in any way the doctrine of attractive nuisance. Usage by members of the public, volunteer groups, or other users is permissive and does not support any claim of adverse possession.
(5) For purposes of this section, the following are not fees:
(a) A license or permit issued for statewide use under authority of chapter 79A.05 RCW or Title 77 RCW;
(b) A pass or permit issued under Section 3 or 4 of this act; and
(c) A daily charge not to exceed twenty dollars per person, per day, for access to a publicly owned ORV sports park, as defined in *RCW 46.09.020, or other public facility accessed by a highway, street, or nonhighway road for the purposes of off-road vehicle use.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. The effective date of this act is September 1, 2011. OR
Section 3 of this act applies to all vehicle registrations that are due or will become due on or after September 1, 2011.
NEW SECTION. Sec.9. Sections 1 through 6 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title --- RCW.
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