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Forest land management more efficient now that Braun bill signed into law

Forest land management more efficient now that Braun bill signed into law

OLYMPIA… Today the governor signed Senate Bill 6180 into law which changes how counties administer forest land and open space timber programs. This legislation authorizes counties to merge programs for more efficient and cost effective administration. Both programs are forestry related and the legislation will remove duplicative accounting while maintaining levels of tax revenue.

“The state should be doing everything it can to let communities plan and manage their forestry programs. This legislation is a simple fix to burdensome land management practices and allows counties to better manage their forestry programs without negatively impacting residents,” said Braun.

Lewis County Assessor Dianne Dorey noted the benefits to her county should commissioners choose to participate. “This bill will save time for us. We don’t know the direct savings yet as the Board of County Commissioners will decide whether or not we participate. If we do, we will be able to manage parcels with more efficiency by not having to dually assess property values and have property owner’s transfer between programs.   Lewis County has 1/5 of the acreage that is currently in the Open Space Timber program in Washington State.  Property owners will not have to deal with the cost and time of transferring between programs when their land falls below 20 acres.”

The bill places no requirements on counties to adopt changes; rather it lets them opt in. The bill also reduces the minimum size for land to be designated forest land from 20 acres to five.

 

 

 

Braun denounces Senate-minority tax plan but says it deserves fair hearing

While Sen. John Braun has no interest in tax increases, he is interested in bringing more cooperation and bipartisanship to the state Capitol – and that’s why the 20th District lawmaker will spend part of Valentine’s Day listening to proposals from the Senate minority that would raise taxes on Washingtonians by more than $38 billion.

“The voters sent a strong no-new-taxes message in November. Still, several of my colleagues in the Senate minority think this would be a great time to go for everything from new income taxes to a tax on plastic bags,” said Braun, R-Centralia.

“Those of us from the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus who serve on the Senate budget committee are going to let them make their case Thursday – and frankly, I suspect the public will be shocked and disappointed to realize how eager some legislators are to add to the tax burden on job creators and working families.” Continue reading →