Our laboratory accreditation and landfill methane reduction programs are authorized to collect fees to cover the costs of operating the programs. Under current law, however, fees collected by these programs are deposited into the General Fund-State. This creates uncertainty in funding and program instability, as the fee revenue may not then be directed back to the program it was intended to support. Under this draft proposal, Ecology would specify dedicated funding accounts for each of the following two programs: · Laboratory accreditation program: Established in Chapter 43.21A.230 RCW, this program accredits environmental laboratories to ensure that labs are producing credible, defensible data. · Landfill methane reduction program: Under Chapter 70A.540 RCW, we work with landfills to reduce their emissions methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas that is contributing to climate change. Directing the fees collected into dedicated accounts will help ensure the fees collected support the work they’re intended to fund and provide sustainable, dependable funding for these important programs.