H-3757

AN ACT Relating to transit security personnel; and amending RCW 35.58.240 and 36.57A.090.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 35.58.240 and 1981 c 25 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

If a metropolitan municipal corporation shall be authorized to perform the function of metropolitan transportation, it shall have the following powers in addition to the general powers granted by this chapter:

(1) To prepare, adopt, and carry out a general comprehensive plan for public transportation service which will best serve the residents of the metropolitan area and to amend said plan from time to time to meet changed conditions and requirements.

(2) To acquire by purchase, condemnation, gift, or grant and to lease, construct, add to, improve, replace, repair, maintain, operate, and regulate the use of metropolitan transportation facilities and properties within or without the metropolitan area, including systems of surface, underground, or overhead railways, tramways, buses, or any other means of local transportation except taxis, and including escalators, moving sidewalks, or other people-moving systems, passenger terminal and parking facilities and properties, and such other facilities and properties as may be necessary for passenger and vehicular access to and from such people-moving systems, terminal and parking facilities and properties, together with all lands, rights of way, property, equipment, and accessories necessary for such systems and facilities. Public transportation facilities and properties which are owned by any city may be acquired or used by the metropolitan municipal corporation only with the consent of the city council of the city owning such facilities. Cities are hereby authorized to convey or lease such facilities to metropolitan corporations or to contract for their joint use on such terms as may be fixed by agreement between the city council of such city and the metropolitan council, without submitting the matter to the voters of such city.

The facilities and properties of a metropolitan public transportation system whose vehicles will operate primarily within the rights of way of public streets, roads, or highways, may be acquired, developed and operated without the corridor and design hearings which are required by RCW 35.58.273 for mass transit facilities operating on a separate right of way.

(3) To fix rates, tolls, fares, and charges for the use of such facilities and to establish various routes and classes of service. Fares or charges may be adjusted or eliminated for any distinguishable class of users including, but not limited to, senior citizens, handicapped persons, and students. Classes of service and fares will be maintained in the several parts of the metropolitan area at such levels as will provide, insofar as reasonably practicable, that the portion of any annual transit operating deficit of the metropolitan municipal corporation attributable to the operation of all routes, taken as a whole, which are located within the central city is approximately in proportion to the portion of total taxes collected by or on behalf of the metropolitan municipal corporation for transit purposes within the central city, and that the portion of such annual transit operating deficit attributable to the operation of all routes, taken as a whole, which are located outside the central city, is approximately in proportion to the portion of such taxes collected outside the central city.

(4) To appoint transit security personnel who, upon being appointed and duly sworn, have full police powers, including but not limited to the power to arrest, for the purpose of enforcing violations of applicable federal, state, or local government statutes, rules, regulations, or ordinances that affect the metropolitan municipal corporation's operations or that occur on or about the facilities, property, vehicles, and equipment involved in the metropolitan municipal corporation's operations. Transit security personnel have the power to pursue and arrest violators beyond the metropolitan municipal corporation's facilities, properties, vehicles, and equipment. Transit security personnel must have graduated from a recognized professional police academy or training institution. The metropolitan municipal corporation is entitled to a seventy-five percent share of costs or penalties collected by local governments as a result of their prosecution of violators cited or arrested by these transit security personnel.

In the event any metropolitan municipal corporation shall extend its metropolitan transportation function to any area or service already offered by any company holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Washington utilities and transportation commission under RCW 81.68.040, it shall by purchase or condemnation acquire at the fair market value, from the person holding the existing certificate for providing the services, that portion of the operating authority and equipment representing the services within the area of public operation.

Sec. 2. RCW 36.57A.090 and 1981 c 25 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

A public transportation benefit area authority shall have the following powers in addition to the general powers granted by this chapter:

(1) To prepare, adopt, and carry out a general comprehensive plan for public transportation service which will best serve the residents of the public transportation benefit area and to amend said plan from time to time to meet changed conditions and requirements.

(2) To acquire by purchase, condemnation, gift, or grant and to lease, construct, add to, improve, replace, repair, maintain, operate, and regulate the use of transportation facilities and properties within or without the public transportation benefit area or the state, including systems of surface, underground, or overhead railways, tramways, buses, or any other means of local transportation except taxis, and including escalators, moving sidewalks, or other people-moving systems, passenger terminal and parking facilities and properties, and such other facilities and properties as may be necessary for passenger and vehicular access to and from such people-moving systems, terminal and parking facilities and properties, together with all lands, rights of way, property, equipment, and accessories necessary for such systems and facilities. Public transportation facilities and properties which are owned by any city may be acquired or used by the public transportation benefit area authority only with the consent of the city council of the city owning such facilities. Cities are hereby authorized to convey or lease such facilities to a public transportation benefit area authority or to contract for their joint use on such terms as may be fixed by agreement between the city council of such city and the public transportation benefit area authority, without submitting the matter to the voters of such city.

The facilities and properties of a public transportation benefit area system whose vehicles will operate primarily within the rights of way of public streets, roads, or highways, may be acquired, developed, and operated without the corridor and design hearings which are required by RCW 35.58.273, as now or hereafter amended, for mass transit facilities operating on a separate right of way.

(4) To appoint transit security personnel who, upon being appointed and duly sworn, have full police powers, including but not limited to the power to arrest, for the purpose of enforcing violations of applicable federal, state, or local government statutes, rules, regulations, or ordinances that affect the authority's operations or that occur on or about the facilities, property, vehicles, and equipment involved in the authority's operations. Transit security personnel have the power to pursue and arrest violators beyond the authority's facilities, properties, vehicles, and equipment. Transit security personnel must have graduated from a recognized professional police academy or training institution. The authority is entitled to a seventy-five percent share of costs or penalties collected by local governments as a result of their prosecution of violators cited or arrested by these transit security personnel.

In the event any person holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Washington utilities and transportation commission under RCW 81.68.040 has operated under such certificate for a continuous period of one year prior to the date of certification and is offering service within the public transportation benefit area on the date of the certification by the county canvassing board that a majority of votes cast authorize a tax to be levied and collected by the public transportation benefit area authority, such authority may by purchase or condemnation acquire at the fair market value, from the person holding the existing certificate for providing the services, that portion of the operating authority and equipment representing the services within the area of public operation. The person holding such existing certificate may require the public transportation benefit area authority to initiate such purchase of those assets of such person, existing as of the date of the county canvassing board certification, within sixty days after the date of such certification.