SENATE BILL REPORT

                            SB 6250

              AS PASSED SENATE, FEBRUARY 7, 1994

Brief Description:  Removing party affiliation requirements for ferry advisory committees.

SPONSORS: Senators Sheldon, Nelson, Vognild and Oke

SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

Majority Report:  Do pass. 

     Signed by Senators Vognild, Chairman; Loveland, Vice Chairman; Skratek, Vice Chairman; Drew, Haugen, Morton, Nelson, Oke, Prentice, Prince, M. Rasmussen, Schow, Sellar and Winsley.

Staff:  Jennifer Joly (786‑7305)

Hearing Dates: January 25, 1994

BACKGROUND:

In 1982, the Legislature created local ferry advisory committees to obtain input about problems experienced by Washington State ferry users.

At least one person appointed to each ferry advisory committee must be representative of an established ferry user group or of frequent users of the ferry system.  All members must reside in the vicinity of the terminal the advisory committee represents.  Not more than three members of any ferry advisory committee may be members of the same political party.  For each terminal area committee, not more than two members may be from the same political party.  In counties with more than one committee, overall party representation shall be as nearly equal as possible.

The chairpersons of the respective ferry advisory committees indicate party affiliation requirements are unwarranted since the advisory committees deal with relatively nonpartisan service issues.

SUMMARY:

Party affiliation requirements for ferry advisory and terminal area committee members are eliminated.

Appropriation:  none

Revenue:  none

Fiscal Note:  none requested

TESTIMONY FOR:

Political party affiliation is irrelevant to the customer service issues ferry advisory committees deal with.

TESTIMONY AGAINST:  None

TESTIFIED:  PRO:  Senator Betti Sheldon, prime sponsor; Terry McCarthy, WSDOT Marine Division, Acting Assistant Secretary; Barbara Lindall, Chair, Clinton Area Ferry Advisory Committee