WSR 14-24-052

PREPROPOSAL STATEMENT OF INQUIRY

[Filed November 25, 2014, 11:40 a.m.]

Subject of Possible Rule Making: Amending WAC 326-02-034 Political subdivision fees.

Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: RCW 39.19.030 and budget proviso from 2014 budget.

Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: The agency is amending WAC 326-02-034 to comply with the 2014 budget proviso requiring office of minority and women's business enterprises (OMWBE) charge a fee to fully recover the agency's cost for providing the statewide DBE/ACDBE/SBE certification service. The costs to be reviewed are (but not limited to): Business outreach, certification application and renewal processing, investigations and audits, and appeals from denials or decertifications.

Proposed amendments to this WAC may also include clarification or simplification to the existing fee structure, a political subdivision's use of the state certification service. The rule has not been updated since 1996. Overall changes in organization and language are needed to reduce confusion for those entities subject to the fees.

Process for Developing New Rule: OMWBE welcomes the public to take part in developing the rules. Anyone interested should contact the staff person identified below. At a later date, OWMBE will file a proposal with the office of the code reviser with a notice of proposed rule making. A copy of the proposal will be sent to everyone on the mailing list and to anyone who requests a copy.

Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Mark Kifowit, Public Records Manager/Rules Coordinator, P.O. Box 41160, Olympia, WA 98504, phone (360) 664-9750, fax (360) 407-0955, e-mail markk@omwbe.wa.gov.

November 25, 2014

Mark Kifowit

Public Records Manager

Rules Coordinator