BILL REQ. #:  H-0674.1 

Read first time 01/15/09.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to providing funding for passenger-only ferry construction; adding a new section to chapter 47.60 RCW, creating a new section; and making an appropriation.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 47.60 RCW to read as follows:
     The department may purchase five passenger-only ferries using the design-build procurement process under this chapter. The design-build procurement process must be consistent with procedures used by the department for highway construction contracts, ensuring that best practices are employed to speed vessel delivery and contain costs. In order to prequalify for this bid, the bidder must be able to design ferries that produce a sufficiently low wake and provide high-speed transit through Rich Passage in the Puget Sound and can be delivered within two years of a notice to proceed.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   During the 2009-2011 fiscal biennium and before the expenditure of funds for the purposes described in RCW 47.66.070, twenty-five million dollars deposited into the multimodal transportation account must be transferred to the passenger ferry account created under RCW 47.60.645 for the purposes described in section 1 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The sum of twenty-five million dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 2011, from the passenger ferry account to the department of transportation for the purposes described in section 1 of this act.