BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to establishing a process for creating regional services frameworks; adding a new section to Title 36 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. Many of the problems facing governments today do not recognize jurisdictional boundaries and demand coordinated solutions. Incorporation of new cities will occur as chapter 36.70A RCW is implemented, making the coordination problem more difficult. At the same time, citizens of the state of Washington are demanding that services be provided as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. The legislature partially addressed the situation with RCW 36.70A.210 in which it recognized that counties are regional governments within their boundaries, and cities are primary providers of urban governmental services within urban growth areas.

Counties, with their county-wide constituencies and long histories of providing services to all the residents in a county, have been called upon to assume regional responsibilities in other areas as well. Examples are found in chapter 70.95 RCW, the solid waste management act; chapter 70.116 RCW, the public water system coordination act; and chapter 72.09 RCW, the corrections reform act. Such efforts have taken place on a piecemeal basis however, and do not provide a consistent framework for addressing regional issues.

This act establishes a process for developing coordinated solutions to regional issues and directs counties to take the lead in beginning the process. Counties, as the only general purpose local governments which are accountable to all of the people in a county, are directed to adopt a regional services framework that has been developed cooperatively by all of the local jurisdictions.

The adopted regional services framework will promote governmental efficiency by clarifying roles and responsibilities on the local and regional levels, and reduce competition and duplication in the provision of local and regional services.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to Title 36 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The legislature recognizes that counties are the primary providers of regional services unless another arrangement is agreed to by a county and the cities within the county.

For the purposes of this section, a "regional services framework" is a written plan used to establish a framework from which the county and cities within the county agree on how regional services will be provided within the county.

For the purposes of this section, "regional services" include:

(a) Planning and coordination. Planning on a county-wide, multijurisdictional, basin-wide, or on the basis of some other natural feature is a regional service. These regional plans involve specific issue areas, rather than an overall governance strategy. These issue-specific plans shall be adopted and implemented by the county after a process that provides for the full participation of cities and other appropriate jurisdictions, such as the state or special districts. The regional services framework shall specify the process. Issue-specific plans must contain the following elements:

(i) Policies governing delivery of the service;

(ii) Jurisdictions responsible for providing the service;

(iii) Minimum service standards;

(iv) Financing; and

(v) Siting capital facilities.

(b) Direct services. Services that are provided county-wide, basin-wide, or on the basis of some other natural feature, or by multiple jurisdictions are regional services.

(2) The legislative authority of a county with a population of one hundred fifty thousand or more and any other county that chooses by resolution to utilize this section shall adopt a regional services framework in cooperation with the cities located in whole or in part within the county as follows:

(a) No later than sixty calendar days from the effective date of this act, the legislative authority of each county that, as of the effective date of this act, is required to utilize this section shall convene a meeting with representatives of each city located within the county for the purpose of establishing a collaborative process that will lead to the adoption of a regional services framework by the county legislative authority. In other counties that choose to utilize this section, this meeting shall be convened no later than sixty days after the date the county adopts its resolution of intention or was certified by the office of financial management as having a population of one hundred fifty thousand or more. The county and a representative number of cities located in the county shall agree, within one hundred eighty days of the initial meeting, to the process for adopting the regional framework.

(b) The regional services framework shall contain the following elements:

(i) A description of the regional services to be addressed in the framework;

(ii) Desired policies regarding the provision of regional services;

(iii) Strategies and timelines for ensuring that each of the services in (b)(i) of this subsection are provided in a coordinated manner that maximizes cost-effectiveness and minimizes duplication;

(iv) Designation of the service provider or the lead agency for each regional service;

(v) Recommendations, if any, to the legislature on financing regional services, including structural changes in the way regional and local government is financed; and

(vi) Such other provisions as the parties agree upon.

(c) Each county that is required or chooses to utilize this section must make a progress report to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 31, 1995, and on the last day of each succeeding year until the regional services framework has been adopted. The reports must include the following elements:

(i) Areas of agreement;

(ii) Areas of disagreement;

(iii) Issues that may require legislative action;

(iv) Expected date of process completion.

(3) Each county must make a final report when the process has been completed. The final report must include the following elements:

(a) Services covered by the regional services framework;

(b) Summaries of the agreements reached for each service;

(d) Legislative actions, if any, necessary to implement the plan and the effect on the plan if no action is taken.

(4) The regional services framework shall be adopted by the county legislative authority no later than five years from the date the initial meeting was convened.

(5) Multicounty services frameworks may be adopted by the legislative authorities of two or more counties according to the process established under this section or other processes agreed to among the counties and cities within the affected counties throughout the multicounty region.