LEGISLATIVE DAYS: An opportunity to get educated and involved
in Olympia
from Scott Dilley
Washington Farm Bureau
1/19/04
We encourage you to register for Legislative Days immediately.
Leg Days is scheduled for February 3-4. The timing is perfect, as
the cutoff date for getting bills out of the policy committee is the
following Friday (Feb. 6).
To register, you may simply reply to this email, with the registration
information filled out below.
RMAP, property taxes, unemployment, workers' comp., water, growth
management, cougar management, trapping, regulatory reform and a host
of other issues are in motion this session!
We will also have an unprecedented candidate forum, featuring candidates
for U.S. Senate, Governor, U.S. House, and Attorney General!
Director of Agriculture Valoria Loveland and Supreme Court Justice
Richard Sanders will be featured speakers, along with the legislative
chairs of labor, water, land use, and agriculture committees.
This could be our most power-packed Legislative Agenda ever! See the
registration info below and register right away!
RMAP BRIEFING:
There will be a work session held jointly on the implementation of
RMAPs, 2HSB 1095, by the Senate Natural Resources Committee and the
House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, January
21 in Senate Hearing room 4. Section 12 of 2HSB 1095 required that
DNR present the implementation of the act, including checklist preparation
and meaning of words in 76.09 and 76.13 RCW. This work session is
to allow DNR to meet that requirement by presenting their rules and
the checklist to the committees.
Testimony is not generally taken during work sessions of committees,
as they are typically pre-arranged panels briefing the committees
on certain issues. Large crowds are not called for in this instance
and hearings may be held at a later date. The committee briefing is
open to the public; you are welcome to attend. We will provide an
update in later RMAP Updates and Legisletters.
" The new rules betray forest owners and the legislative process,
" said Steve Appel, president of Washington Farm Bureau. "
Farm Bureau will continue to work for a fix that satisfies small forest
landowners. "
from the January 2004 Farm Bureau News
New rules betray forest owners, legislative process
By Steve Appel
Small forest landowners and the Legislature have been betrayed by
the Forest Practices Board.
Last spring, the Legislature directed the Forest Practices Board to
rewrite the onerous and potentially costly rules governing Road Maintenance
and Abandonment Plans for small forest landowners.
Legislators gave the board very clear directions. The board was to
adopt rules that exempted small forest landowners from any RMAP obligations
beyond submitting a simple checklist if and when they applied for
a forest practices permit. In other words, no RMAP obligations until
the property owner decided to harvest some trees.
The Legislature also decided that public funds should be used to replace
any culverts that don ' t allow fish passage if the culverts were
properly installed under an approved forest practices application
and hydraulics permit. In other words, if a culvert was legal when
it went in, the small forest landowner should not bear the cost of
replacing it now that the rules have been changed.
But, instead of following the Legislature ' s directions, the Forest
Practices Board left out some key language, slipped in a 2016 deadline
for replacing culverts, and inserted wording that the lawmakers never
intended.
In a letter sent to Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland, 13
state legislators accused the Forest Practices Board of a "blatant
disregard of our intent and express words in House Bill 1095."
Instead of providing relief from RMAP rules, which was the intent
of HB 1095, the lawmakers said the board "added to (its) power
and authority to regulate small forest landowners."
The board ' s actions were even more egregious and bizarre considering
that the Legislature approved HB 1095 unanimously - 49-0 in the Senate
and 96-0 in the House.
There was nothing ambiguous in what the Legislature said, nevertheless
the Forest Practices Board deliberately disregarded the directions
it was given.
As Hertha Lund, our natural resources specialist, asked the Senate
Natural Resources Committee last month, "What do we tell the
small guys out there who thought that working (through) the public
process would give them some relief?"
The first thing the Legislature must do is to let the Forest Practices
Board know that it ' s not happy with the way it disregarded its directions.
The second thing is to invalidate the regulations and order the Forest
Practices Board to do it again - the right way.
Boards and commissions are not free to ignore laws passed by our elected
representatives, which what the Forest Practices Board is trying to
do.
That ' s arrogant. It ' s wrong. And the Legislature needs to remind
the board that it has to follow the rules as well as make them.
Steve Appel is a wheat grower in Whitman County and president of the
Washington Farm Bureau. To respond to this column, send an e-mail
to the Washington Farm Bureau <mailto:dboyer@wsfb.com.
Washington Farm Bureau
Legislative Days
Feb 3-4. 2004
Red Lion Hotel, Olympia
Registration $50.00 Per Person.
(Includes meeting materials, two lunches, and Legislative Banquet)
Registration return deadline is January 28, 2004
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As you would like it to appear on name tag. Please print clearly.
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Make check payable to Washington Farm Bureau.
Room Reservations:
Please contact the Red Lion Hotel at 360-943-4000 for room reservations.
Room rates are $89:00 plus tax for single or double occupancy. Reservations
must be made ASAP, as the room block has been released and room availability
is not guaranteed.
Visa or Mastercard Information:
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Mail to: Washington Farm Bureau, P.O. Box 2009,
Olympia, WA 98507, or fax to: 360-357-9939.
Registrations must be returned to Washington Farm
Bureau by Wednesday, January 28, 2004.
Additional questions?
Call Scott Dilley at 1-800-331-3276 or e-mail: sdilley@wsfb.com