(1) The boating activities program is created in the recreation and conservation funding board.
(2) The recreation and conservation funding board shall distribute moneys appropriated from the boating activities account created in RCW
79A.60.690 as follows, or as otherwise appropriated by the legislature, after deduction for the board's expenses in administering the boating activities program and for related studies:
(a) To the commission for boater safety, boater education, boating-related law enforcement activities, activities included in RCW
88.02.650, related administrative expenses, and boating-related environmental programs, such as pumpout stations, to enhance clean waters for boating;
(b) For grants to state agencies, counties, municipalities, port districts, federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and Indian tribes to improve boating access to water and marine parks, enhance the boater experience, boater safety, boater education, and boating-related law enforcement activities, and to provide funds for boating-related environmental programs, such as pumpout stations, to enhance clean waters for boating; and
(c) If the amount available for distribution from the boating activities account is equal to or less than two million five hundred thousand dollars per fiscal year, then eighty percent of the amount available must be distributed to the commission for the purposes of (a) of this subsection and twenty percent for grants in (b) of this subsection. Amounts available for distribution in excess of two million five hundred thousand dollars per fiscal year shall be distributed by the board for purposes of (a) and (b) of this subsection.
(3) The recreation and conservation funding board shall establish an application process for boating activities grants.
(4) Agencies receiving grants for capital purposes from the boating activities account shall consider the possibility of contracting with the commission, the department of natural resources, or other federal, state, and local agencies to employ the youth development and conservation corps or other youth crews in completing the project.
(5) To solicit input on the boating activities grant application process, criteria for grant awards, and use of grant moneys, and to determine the interests of the boating community, the recreation and conservation funding board shall solicit input from a boating activities advisory committee. The recreation and conservation funding board may utilize a currently established boating issues committee that has similar responsibility for input on recreational boating-related funding issues. Members of the boating activities advisory committee are not eligible for compensation but may be reimbursed for travel expenses as provided in RCW
43.03.050 and
43.03.060.
(6) The recreation and conservation funding board may adopt rules to implement this section.
