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House committee hears Bailey
bill to add islands to Island County
The House Local Government
Committee took testimony today on a measure that would correct a
153-year oversight by adding four islands to Island County and
correcting the names of three other islands.
House Bill 2908, prime sponsored by
Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor,
would add Strawberry, Baby, Kalamut and Minor islands to Island County
in state law. It would also correct in state law the name of Ure Island
to Ben Ure Island, and divide the name of Smith’s Deception into Smith
Island and Deception Island.
"We lost some islands more than a century and a half ago and now they’ve
been found," Bailey told the committee. "Now we need to give them a
county."
The lost islands were brought to her attention by Roger Sherman of
Coupeville. During the hearing, Sherman testified that he discovered
errors in state law while researching local maritime history.
"My hobby is maritime history, specifically Whidbey Island. I discovered
several discrepancies in the Island County RCW 36.04.150. This RCW uses
a strange method to describe Island County boundaries. Back in the old
days when they did this, they did it the easy way. They listed the
islands they thought were in Island County and then they said, ‘to
connect with the boundaries of the adjoining counties,’" said Sherman,
who noted the law is vague.
"These islands were either
incorrectly named in state law or had been omitted altogether when the
Island County boundaries were first created in by the Oregon Territorial
Legislature in 1853," said Bailey. "That oversight continued when the
Washington Territorial Legislature formed the county boundaries in 1867.
The statute was modified four other times, the last in 1891, two years
after Washington became a state – and these omissions and errors
continued. So I’m pleased that we are able to correct this after all
these years and finally put our local islands back on the Island County
map."
Bailey noted that her original legislation only added Strawberry Island
and corrected the names of Ben Ure, Smith’s and Deception islands.
However, three more changes were brought to her attention after the bill
was written.
"We found three more islands – Baby, Minor and Kalamut islands. So we’ve
included those through an amendment that is being offered in the
committee," said Bailey. "To the best of my knowledge, that should
complete the inclusion of islands for Island County and finally correct
the boundaries within state law."
The committee is expected to take action on the measure within the next
several days.
Roger Sherman with Rep. Barbara Bailey
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For more information, contact:
John
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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