Columbia Fishing Endorsement Bill Amended By Senate Committee

A bill that would bring back Washington’s Columbia River endorsement requirement to fish for salmon and steelhead in much of the watershed was tweaked in committee this afternoon as it received a majority do-pass recommendation.

The changes to House Bill 2003 came from Senator John Braun (R-Centralia), who had a pair of amendments as the 2025 legislative session nears its scheduled end later this weekend, meaning that for the bill to go into effect, it has to be passed by the Senate and concurred with by the lower chamber.

Braun’s first amendment requires WDFW and stakeholders to put together a report on what funds from the $7.50 fee ($8.75 after dealer and transaction fees) were used for after it goes into effect January 1, 2026, as well as provide a recommendation by the end of next year whether it should be continued, and establishes a sunset date of January 1, 2028, for the bill.

“This is a program that was in place for many years with bipartisan support. It kinda ran into trouble a few years ago. It seems to me that if we’re going to put it back in place, we should be careful to report out to stakeholders and maintain good support for the program,” Braun said in support of his amendment, which was adopted by members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

The original Columbia River endorsement was in effect from 2010 to 2019. Like that one, this one would require anglers fishing for Chinook, coho, summer-runs and other salmon and steelhead stocks on the Columbia from the Rocky Point-Tongue Point line near Buoy 10 up to Chief Joseph Dam and all of its Washington tributaries to purchase the license.

A fiscal note estimates HB 2003 would raise $676,000 in 2026 and $1.35 million in subsequent years. The revenues essentially just replace like amounts sucked out of WDFW’s General Fund disbursement by state lawmakers.

Braun’s second amendment tweaked language around what those revenues would be used for.

“It changes the work from monitoring and data collection to actually getting after some of the things that will affect our salmon runs – hatchery production, getting after the pinniped challenge that we face,” he said.

That was supported by Senator Derek Stanford (D-Bothell).

“Also asking for a yes on this amendment expanding what can be looked at in terms of expanding recreational opportunities, and it doesn’t get in the way of the other things that this funding has been used for in the past as well,” Stanford said.

It too was passed, and then 14 members of Ways and Means gave the twice-amended bill a do-pass recommendation, six recommended it not be passed, and five, including Braun, submitted that it should be referred to the full Senate without recommendation.

If the upper chamber does approve it, the bill would need concurrence on the amendments from the House, where it originated. HB 2003 is cosponsored by Representatives Kristine Reeves (D-Federal Way), Joe Fitzgibbon (D-West Seattle) and Gerry Pollet (D-North Seattle).

Just as with SB 5583 – the 38 percent fishing and hunting license increase bill that the legislature passed earlier this week and this evening was just delivered to Governor Bob Ferguson – HB 2003 was NOT REQUESTED by WDFW.

But both are baked into lawmakers’ proposed operating budgets for the agency. A source said HB 2003 doesn’t fund new monitoring and game warden work that would open additional fishing opportunities.

The 2025 legislative session is scheduled to wrap up Sunday, April 27, unless extra time is needed to pass the two-year budgets.