Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. "(1) A regional transit authority shall convene a work group comprised of at least ten board members of the regional transit authority and independent subject matter experts to evaluate potential improvements to board composition, governance, and membership. The work group shall review at least the following:
(a) The costs, benefits, and operational changes of having a directly elected board, including any impacts to perceived credit worthiness;
(b) The appropriate number of directly elected board members; and
(c) Any methods to improve representation without utilizing a directly elected board.
(2) The work group must submit a report of its review to the joint transportation committee by December 1, 2017."
On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "Relating to" strike the remainder of the title and insert "convening a regional transit authority work group; and creating a new section."
EFFECT: Strikes the entirety of SSB 5001 and replaces it with language that convenes a Regional Transit Authority (RTA) work group to review various aspects of RTA governance, costs, and operations. A report from the work group is due to the Joint Transportation Committee by December 1, 2017.