This bill amends RCW 79.105.060 and RCW 79.105.430 to change how private recreational docks and mooring buoys on state-owned aquatic lands are defined and authorized. It supplies or updates definitions that apply throughout chapters 79.105–79.145 RCW and modifies the rights of abutting residential owners to install and maintain docks and mooring buoys on state tidelands, shorelands, or beds of navigable waters (excluding harbor areas). Docks authorized under the changes must be used exclusively for private recreational purposes, may not be sold or leased separately from the upland residence, and may not be used to moor boats for commercial or residential use. Mooring buoys may only serve qualified recreational vessels, must not obstruct previously authorized buoys, must be located as near the upland residence as practical, may not be used for boats over sixty feet, and may not be sold or leased separately. The bill also authorizes limited recreational moorage sharing at an authorized dock or buoy when the abutting owner maintains required registrations and permits and when sharing meets specified limits. Individual stays are limited to seven consecutive days, combined stays for a qualified recreational vessel to 90 days in a calendar year, and total annual receipts from sharing may not exceed three times the owner’s documented actual maintenance costs for the dock or buoy in the prior 12 months. Sharing that complies with these limits is not treated as commercial use of state aquatic lands, does not create a separate lease or tenancy from the upland property, and is not subject to the department’s leasing and authorization requirements. The department may revoke permission or direct relocation for public necessity (for example, hazards to navigation, impacts to habitat, or shellfish bed decertification), and such revocations may be appealed under RCW 79.105.160. A second buoy may be allowed if the department determines it is necessary for secure moorage and may be used only as a second mooring line for the same boat. The amendments reference many defined terms (for example, types of aquatic lands, qualified recreational vessel, recreational moorage sharing, and others), apply to areas designated as aquatic reserves, and involve the department that administers state aquatic lands, port districts, county superior courts for buoy disputes, and the commissioner and fish and wildlife commission for reserve designations. The provided text cuts off mid-provision and does not identify the department by name in these excerpts; the bill title’s reference to “authorizing additional use” is not fully detailed in the extracted text, and some procedural or definitional details are not present.

If enacted, the bill lets homeowners whose property borders state-owned tidelands or shorelands put in and keep private recreational docks and mooring buoys and to temporarily share moorage with visiting recreational boats under strict limits. Homeowners cannot sell or lease the dock or buoy separately from their upland property, buoys can’t be used for commercial or residential boats or for vessels over 60 feet, and shared stays are limited to seven consecutive days and 90 days total per vessel per year; any money received for sharing is capped at three times the prior year’s documented maintenance costs. The department that oversees aquatic lands can require permits, allow a second buoy for secure moorage, order relocation or revoke permission for public safety, navigation, or habitat reasons, and disputes over buoy sites go to county superior court with preference to the prior installer if they meet rules. Those most affected are abutting residential owners, who gain a new option to moor boats and to offset maintenance costs but also face permit, registration, recordkeeping, and compliance costs and the risk that permission can be revoked for public-necessity reasons. The department and other local, state, and federal agencies will have more permitting, enforcement, and appeal work; ports and fish and wildlife authorities are implicated where aquatic reserves apply. Important details are missing from the provided text — the bill fragment cuts off mid-provision and it does not identify which specific “department” is meant or provide full implementation procedures.