S-4971.1 _______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6555
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State of Washington 53rd Legislature 1994 Regular Session
By Senate Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators Prentice, Nelson, Vognild, Sheldon, Oke and Winsley)
Read first time 02/08/94.
AN ACT Relating to local government coordination of approvals for major transportation projects; adding new sections to chapter 36.70A RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. INTENT. The legislature recognizes that there are major transportation projects that affect multiple jurisdictions as to economic development, fiscal influence, environmental consequences, land use implications, and mobility of people and goods. The legislature further recognizes that affected jurisdictions have important interests that must be addressed, and that these jurisdictions' present environmental planning and permitting authority may result in multiple local permits and other requirements being specified for the projects.
The legislature finds that the present permitting system may result in segmented and sequential decisions by local governments that do not optimally serve all the parties with an interest in the decisions. The present system may also make more difficult achieving the consistency among plans and actions that is an important aspect of this chapter.
It is the intent of the legislature to provide for more efficiency and equity in the decisions of local governments regarding major transportation projects by encouraging coordination or consolidation of the processes for reviewing environmental planning and permitting requirements for those projects. The legislature intends that local governments coordinate their regulatory decisions by considering together the range of local, state, and federal requirements for major transportation projects. Nothing in section 1 or 2 of this act alters the authority of cities or counties under any other planning or permitting statute.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. COLLABORATIVE TRANSPORTATION PROJECT REVIEW. For counties engaged in planning under this chapter, there shall be established by December 31, 1994, a collaborative process to review and coordinate state and local permits for all transportation projects that cross more than one city or county boundary. This process shall at a minimum, establish a mechanism among affected cities and counties to designate a permit coordinating agency to facilitate multijurisdictional review and approval of such transportation projects.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. Section captions used in this act constitute no part of the law.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Sections 1 and 2 of this act are added to chapter 36.70A RCW.
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