Boatlift fee bill fails in House

MOSES LAKE — A state bill, which would have eliminated fees to install and maintain boatlifts, failed to make it out of committee.

The bill would have allowed people on Moses Lake to install and maintain boatlifts and docks without being charged a fee, if they were purely for recreational purposes.

Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, and Rep Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, sponsored the bill during this session. While it passed through the House Ecology and Parks Committee, the General Government Appropriations Committee did not vote on the bill before the deadline for it to leave committee.

In the summer of 2008, the Department of Natural Resources began ticketing residents who own boatlifts, claming they had to pay a $175 fee before placing their boatlift on the lake.

In response to the change, residents contacted 13th District representatives and the state Department of Natural Resources to find out why the change.

Former Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland also came to Moses Lake to meet with boatlift owners.

“When the bill was first heard in Ecology and Parks, it sailed out with nine ‘yes’ votes, but when it came to General Government Appropriations, we could not get eight people to vote for it. I was dumbfounded,” Hinkle stated. “This is what our constituents want and I will continue to request that they not be charged a fee for lifts on their own docks.”

The DNR halted fee collection and ticketing after confusion about the purpose of the fee. Moses Lake was the only lake in the state to have the fee charged.

Hinke and Warnick stated they worked with Sutherland to stop collection until they could work on the issue in the Legislature.

“I’m really disappointed this bill was killed,” Warnick stated. “The legislative process is more transparent with more opportunity for public input than there might be if the agency makes the decision. However, I look forward to working with the agency and the new commissioner of public lands to remove the current fee. The people have clearly asked for this and I hope the agency will follow their will.”