Governor signs three of Rep. Hans Zeiger’s bills into law

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April 24, 2015

CONTACT: Kurt Hammond, Senior Information Officer - (360) 786-7794

Governor signs three of Rep. Hans Zeiger's bills into law

Three of Rep. Hans Zeiger's bills were signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee this week, including a measure that will allow fire protection districts and regional fire protection authorities to adopt biennial budgets.

Zeiger was the prime sponsor of House Bill 1313, a proposal advocated by Central Pierce Fire and Rescue.

"Under current law, fire protection districts and regional fire authorities can't budget in two-year timeframes. The state and many local governments budget biennially, and our fire districts and authorities should be able to do so as well," said Zeiger, R-Puyallup. "This will result in efficiencies and good stewardship of taxpayer dollars."

Central Pierce Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Keith Wright testified in favor of the legislation when the bill was before the House Local Government Committee.

"Implementing a biennial budget allows fire districts to develop a budget over a two-year period, and more fully consider long-term implications of financial decisions," said Wright. "By eliminating the process of developing an entire budget and budget book in the second year, districts can use the time savings for better budget oversight and more thorough program evaluation."

The bill passed through the Legislature unanimously.

Zeiger had two other pieces of legislation signed by the governor.

House Bill 1317 revises lien collections of sewer charges by counties. Under current law, cities can wait six months before recording a lien for delinquent sewer payments. Zeiger's legislation would extend the same policy to counties. This will allow them to save on administrative costs and allow delinquent customers time to pay their sewer charges before having to pay recording fees.

House Bill 1961 is a higher education "cleanup" bill that removes outdated statutory language, corrects dates, and makes other technical updates to the community and technical college section of the Revised Code of Washington.

All three bills take effect 90 days from the adjournment of the regular legislative session.