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Legislative update by Rick Dunning, Executive
Director of the WFFA:
After being approved by both Houses of the Legislature, WFFA's second piece of legislation of the 2010
session (SB 6776) will not be going to the governor for her
signature. SB 6776 called for the Legislature's two Natural
Resource committees to create a joint workgroup to find solutions to
small forest landowners issues by September 15,
2010.
The chairmen of those two committees, Sen. Ken Jacobsen and
Rep. Brian Blake, already had the power to work together but allowed the
legislation to go forward as a signal of their commitment to small
landowners. The legislation was well received in both chambers,
receiving unanimous votes in both the House and Senate. However,
both chairmen, citing the separation of powers, had concerns about
sending legislation to the governor on an issue that is completely within
the purview of the legislative branch.
It remained on the Senate "concurrence" calendar
as the regular session came to a close.
We are still in the game and I will continue to work with
Martin Flynn and the Natural Resource Chairs to promote creation of
a legislative interim work plan focused on our SFL issues and
the undermining of FREP.
Stay tuned...
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Additional perspectives on the Legislative Session were
offered on 3/14/10 by Mark Doumit and Debora Munguia of the Washington Forest Protection
Association. Follow this link
to a posting on the WFFA website.
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