PREPROPOSAL STATEMENT OF INQUIRY
Subject of Possible Rule Making: Reimbursement of direct costs incurred by the Washington state department of transportation (WSDOT) for its management of the Washington state rail safety oversight program.
Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: RCW 81.104.115 requires WSDOT to "set by rule an annual fee for owners and operators of rail fixed guideway systems to defray the department's direct costs associated only with the system safety program plans, system security and emergency preparedness plans, and incident investigations."
Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: This WAC establishes, by rule, a formula for determining the amount charged to rail fixed guideway system owners for the reimbursement of direct costs incurred by WSDOT for its management of the Washington state rail safety oversight program. The formula is in two parts: (1) 50% of the administrative costs equally reimbursed to WSDOT by all the owners of the rail fixed guideway systems in Washington state, and (2) 50% [of] the administrative costs reimbursed based on the proportional share of each fixed guideway system owner's track miles in Washington state. Costs associated with incident investigations are reimbursed by the affected rail fixed guideway system owner to WSDOT at full cost.
Other Federal and State Agencies that Regulate this Subject and the Process Coordinating the Rule with These Agencies: System safety program plans and security and emergency preparedness plans are documents developed and implemented for each rail fixed guideway system which describes safety and security policies, objectives, responsibilities. The requirements for these plans are established by the Federal Transit Administration in C.F.R. 49 Part 659 and further by the Washington state rail safety oversight program standard.
Process for Developing New Rule: Negotiated rule making.
Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication. WSDOT staff Michael Flood, Rail Transit Safety and Security Officer, (206) 464-1291, floodm@wsdot.wa.gov and Ron Sheck, Urban Rail Program Manager, (206) 464-1202, sheckr@wsdot.wa.gov have continued communications with the following representatives of the rail fixed guideway systems in the Puget Sound area: Curtis Robinson, Director of Operations, Seattle Monorail Services, phone (206) 905-2615, curtisr@seattlemonorail.com; Ethan Melone, Project Manager-Seattle Streetcar, City of Seattle, phone (206) 684-8066, ethan.melone@seattle.gov; Hamid Qaasim, Director of Safety, Security, and Quality Assurance, Sound Transit, (206) 398-5129, hamid.qaasim@soundtransit.org.
January 11, 2008
Steve Reinmuth
Chief of Staff