Z-1425               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 4887

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1986 Regular Session

By Senators Goltz, Johnson, Warnke, Patterson and Rasmussen; by request of Office of Financial Management

Read first time 1/23/86 and referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

AN ACT Relating to state travel allowances; and amending RCW 43.03.050.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 43.03.050, chapter 8, Laws of 1965 as last amended by section 1, chapter 29, Laws of 1983 1st ex. sess. and RCW 43.03.050 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) The director of financial management shall prescribe reasonable allowances to cover reasonable and necessary subsistence and lodging expenses for elective and appointive officials and state employees while engaged on official business away from their designated posts of duty.  The director of financial management may prescribe reasonable allowances to cover meals that are an integral part of meetings of ten or more state employees regardless of travel status. The director of financial management may prescribe and regulate the allowances provided in lieu of subsistence and lodging expenses and may prescribe the conditions under which reimbursement for subsistence and lodging may be allowed.  The schedule of allowances adopted by the office of financial management may include special allowances for foreign travel and other travel involving higher than usual costs for subsistence and lodging.  ((The allowances established by the director shall not exceed the rates set by the federal government for federal employees.))

          (2) Those persons appointed to serve without compensation on any state board, commission, or committee, if entitled to  payment of travel expenses, shall be  paid pursuant to special per diem rates prescribed in accordance with subsection (1) of this section by the office of financial management.

          (3) The ((initial schedule of)) travel allowances prescribed by the director under the terms of this section ((and any subsequent increases in any maximum allowance or special allowances for areas of higher than usual costs)) for the District of Columbia and for areas in the contiguous forty-eight states of the United States of America shall be presented for review and comment to the ways and means committees of the house of representatives and the senate when the legislature is in session and to the legislative budget committee when the legislature is not in session.  The presentation to the appropriate legislative committees shall occur at least forty-five days before the travel allowances are adopted by the director.  The travel allowances established by the director under the terms of this section for areas in foreign localities and for areas in Alaska, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and possessions and trusts of the United States of America throughout the world shall be reported to the ways and means committees of the house of representatives and the senate at each regular session of the legislature.