Rep. Kretz Gives Hirst Update Pt 1

Rep. Kretz Gives Hirst Update Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. What to do about a pair of state Supreme Court decisions leads the list of yet-to-be resolved issues in the current legislative session. Topping the list is probably the McCleary Decision, that mandates finding a way to fully fund K-thru-12 education. Second, and perhaps the biggest in rural Washington, is the Hirst decision which restricts rural land-owner's ability to drill a well and build on their property ...

JOEL KRETZ ... "The Hirst decision, to me, is the worst thing to hit rural Washington as long as I've been around. It will absolutely stop any kind of development. I'm hearing from lots of people that have 5, 10, 20 acres that they were just getting ready to build a house or retirement cabin, that sort of thing, and now they don't have the ability to get an exempt well, and with no water it's worthless."

7th District Representative Joel Kretz says they're trying to educate urban legislators that this problem will impact property values for everybody, not just the rural landowners ...

JOEL KRETZ ... "And as those hit the market and are sold at a lower value, then their tax evaluations will come down and the taxes don't go away. It's going to be a big tax-shift to the urban areas. Anybody with water will see their taxes go up and go up hard. So, a lot of it's just education on the more urban legislators that, this isn't just our problem, this is everybody's problem and we've got to get it fixed."

Kretz says failure to overturn this decision could haunt rural communities for decades.

He says there are a couple of bills that could help ease or overturn the Hirst decision, but there's still a lot of work yet to be done.

We'll have more on those efforts tomorrow.

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