HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1988

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Defines the concept of right-sizing and recognizes that the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is utilizing this concept in their SafetyAnalyst Program.
Requires the WSDOT to submit a report to the Legislature on right-sizing by January 1, 2014.

Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 31 members: Representatives Clibborn, Chair; Fey, Vice Chair; Liias, Vice Chair; Moscoso, Vice Chair; Orcutt, Ranking Minority Member; Hargrove, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Overstreet, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Angel, Bergquist, Farrell, Fitzgibbon, Freeman, Habib, Hayes, Johnson, Klippert, Kochmar, Kretz, Kristiansen, Moeller, Morris, O'Ban, Riccelli, Rodne, Ryu, Sells, Shea, Takko, Tarleton, Upthegrove and Zeiger.

Background:

"Right-sizing" is a term the Washington State Transportation Commission (WSTC) has used to describe a lean, metric-based approach to determining project investments. The goal is to find a "best fit" transportation solution for the context that meets the expectations of decision makers, the state, stakeholders, and the community. It entails compromise between project cost and design, incorporating community needs, desired outcomes, and available funding. The WSTC indicates that right-sizing would include a peer review to assess scope and scale against objectives and cost.

The Washington State Department of Transportation's (WSDOT) safety program has recently begun to apply the concept of right-sizing, utilizing software called "SafetyAnalyst," which automates statistical approaches to improve the identification and programming of site-specific highway safety improvements. A complete root causes analysis and evaluation is conducted, options and countermeasures are assessed, and solution options are identified according to cost and benefit.

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Summary of Bill:

The WSDOT is required to work with the WSTC to submit a report to the Transportation Committees of the Legislature on right-sizing by January 1, 2014. The report must include when and where the concept has been applied within the WSDOT and must also include an assessment of the feasibility of extending the concept to all capital programs.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony:

(In support) The bill is getting to a cost-benefit analysis and that is very much worth the Legislature taking a look at.

The WSTC worked on a national scan to see if this concept had been done much across the country. There are pockets of this happening around the nation, in different ways and under different titles. All states are facing the same challenge of less money, but the same needs, and are figuring out how to address that. The WSTC heard about the WSDOT's SafetyAnalyst Program at a recent meeting and believes it merits some assessment by the WSDOT to see if it can be expanded, what are the merits, and what are the costs of expanding it.

The Association of Washington Business supports the bill and is happy to work with members to move the bill forward.

(Opposed) None.