Here's the link to the bill
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2013-14/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1917.pdf...and the link to the bill page
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1917&year=2013With the proposed legislation on the table, this might be an opportune time to contact legislators about withdrawing the bills and working with the guides (both fishing and hunting) to develop a comprehensive piece of legislation for introduction in 2014.
The piece meal way the WA legislature and state agencies work to craft solutions to real or perceived issues results in statutory construction that we used to call "Christmas tree" statutes. Legislators and special interest groups keep hanging new baubles on the base statute and, over time, the branches droop lower and lower. The "good" ornaments get hidden by the cheap ones that are piled on the branches.
In 1984/85, I put together and shepherded through a legislative update for the Colorado statutes that administered the Colorado Division of Wildlife. We had close to 100 years of legislation to work with. Our statutes were no where as lengthy as the WDFW statutes, but we had over 120 pages on the books. When we were done, we had cut almost 60 pages out of the statutes, cleaned up the wording, strengthened the laws, made them easy to understand for the Judges, the District Attorneys, and, most importantly, for the public. Over the past 25 years, the number of pages have grown, but the format is still easy to follow.
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