SERIOUS PROBLEMS RAISED ON FISH HATCHERY PRIVATIZATION BILL

The bill the Federation opposes to privatize at least seven fish hatcheries ran into a wall of questions Wednesday when supporters couldn’t tell senators how the converted hatcheries would be run and funded.

And internal disputes within rival commercial fisheries groups came to the surface, further muddying exactly why the bill is needed.

The Federation continued its strong opposition to the bill, Second Substitute House Bill 1951. It came up during a hearing before the Senate Natural Resources and Ocean and Recreation Committee.

“It’s putting the cart before the horse,” Federation Lobbyist Matt Zuvich told the committee. “We do not support or endorse the closure of hatcheries.”

Sen. Val Stevens of the 39th District who repeatedly asked why any the state would want to close any hatchery when salmon runs needed to be enhanced shared Zuvich’s fundamental point.

Zuvich raised concerns that if the legislation passed and the private groups got their way that they’d lose the scientific knowledge needed to run the hatcheries.

The intent of the bill is to keep the seven hatcheries targeted by the governor for closure open by allowing private groups to operate them.

The bill isn’t supposed to have any fiscal impact because the private groups are supposed to take over operations.

But several fisheries enhancement groups that had other concerns with the bill couldn’t reassure the senators that they could raise all the funds to take over hatchery operations.

They gave squishy answers about raising donations, getting grants and other fundraising schemes, like selling carcasses and eggs.

It was also unclear if the groups supporting the bill instead assumed they’d just lease back the hatcheries from the state with current employees. But again, senators asked questions that showed they were not confident the groups had really thought through what that meant.

Sen. Karen Fraser of the 22nd District, Sen. Brian Hatfield of the 19th District and others on the committee raised concerns about the impact on pensions, salaries and benefits if the private groups in fact could hire back existing state employees.

Representatives from the Department of Fish and Wildlife acknowledged they couldn’t give a firm answer about the viability of the private-public partnership plan until they saw the business plans of each potential group taking over each hatchery. The department also said it had concerns that the bill if signed into law would supersede its existing authority.

And the commercial fisheries groups split on support of the bill, with one saying HB 1951 “creates a profit motive for what is now in the public trust.”

So stay tuned. A bill that sailed through the House is facing tougher questions in the Senate. Call 1-800-562-6000 to oppose 2SHB 1951, the fish hatchery privatization bill.



Watch the full hearing here.