Coastal Caucus members praise bill sending help to timber communities

Battered industry and working people deserve a fair shake, lawmakers maintain

OLYMPIA — A win for working Washington. That’s the word from legislative members of the Coastal Caucus today (March 29) as their plan to cut taxes on timber companies has become the law of the state.

The legislation, which was signed into law by the governor, is aimed at reducing timber-company tax rates so they match airplane-company tax rates.

State Sen. Mark Doumit, who prime-sponsored the measure (Senate Bill 6874), said that “bringing down the business costs for our timber operations will help the industry keep the family wage jobs that are critical to our rural communities.

“But we also need to remember that the timber market is a global one,” said Doumit. Washington’s forest-practice regulations are some of the most advanced and expensive on the planet. Energy costs have tripled over the past 20 years. Offsetting these high costs with a lower tax rate will help our state’s third largest industry stay competitive with the rest of the world.”

The Coastal Caucus is made up of the Cathlamet Democrat and other legislators who represent Washington’s coastal region from the Strait of Juan de Fuca south to the mouth of the Columbia River. They work together to make sure the Legislature respects the specific regional concerns of the coastal communities.

“It’s about time our state’s tax policy showed some fairness,” said state Rep. Dean Takko, who represents four counties’ worth of timber towns.

“The Washington timber industry and our timber towns have been taking a beating for years,” said Takko, D-Longview. “Timber companies here pay the highest excise tax in the nation. It’s about time our Washington caught a break.”

State Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, prime-sponsored the House version of the new state law. He said that “the timber industry has been the backbone of Southwest Washington’s economy for generations.

“The state needs to do everything it can to make sure traditional industries such as farming and timber don’t get left behind as we continue to improve our business climate,” Blake said. “Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Pacific and Grays Harbor citizens simply want a decent chance to earn a decent living.”

Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, noted that the idea behind this new state law “is to accord timber companies and their workers the same kind of respect and recognition that our state has seen fit to make sure Boeing gets.”

“Our state over the years has gone the extra mile for big companies in Seattle and its Puget Sound suburbs,” Kessler noted. “So it just seems to me that it’s not too much to ask for the same kind of treatment for people and towns that are, literally, building the state of Washington.”

“Houses are still made of wood, and we still use plenty of paper,” said state Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam.

“Our rural mills are struggling,” Hargrove added, “and helping them will keep more manufacturing jobs from going out of the country.”

Coastal Caucus members also pointed out that burgeoning international competition in the forest-products industry makes it imperative that we keep the cost of doing business down in Washington.

Pulp and paper companies should see the biggest benefit in the new state law. Pulp and paper is a much more capital-intensive industry than aerospace or aluminum, for instance — and it’s even costlier here in Washington. Asian mills can make and sell products for half what it costs here.

Speaking up for the measure in legislative-committee testimony were representatives from the Washington Forest Protection Association, the American Forest Resource Council, the Washington Farm Forestry Association, the Woodworkers International Association of Machinists, the Cascade Land Conservancy, and Audubon Washington.

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