FINAL BILL REPORT

                  SSB 5084

                          C 215 L 95

                      Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Reducing commute trips.

Sponsors:  Senate Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators Drew, Prince, Haugen, Wood, Fairley, Franklin, Deccio and Sheldon; by request of Department of General Administration).

Senate Committee on Transportation

House Committee on Transportation

Background:  In 1991 the Legislature passed the Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) law which was initially introduced as part of the Governor's Clean Air Act.  The CTR law attempts to reduce single-occupant vehicle (SOV) driving by requiring major employers (100 or more employees) in the state's eight largest counties to reduce the number of SOV trips to their work sites.  The goals are a 15 percent reduction by 1995, 25 percent by 1997, and 35 percent by 1999.

Because the CTR law affects private and public employers, state government must also implement a commute trip reduction program for its employees.  The Department of General Administration is the lead agency, and has been working on a plan to help the state reduce single-occupant driving by state employees.

Currently, the Director of General Administration must establish equitable and consistent parking fees after consulting with representatives of state agencies and state employees.  The fees are deposited into the capitol vehicle parking account.

Summary:  The Director of the Department of General Administration (GA) must establish equitable and consistent parking fees for capitol campus parking, and may, if requested by agencies, establish parking fees for agencies off the capitol campus.

The fees must be deposited into the state vehicle parking account, previously named the capitol vehicle parking account.  The Legislature continues to appropriate these funds.

State agencies may impose parking fees where none exist, or increase parking fees where GA already imposes them.  The agencies that impose parking fees must deposit the money into a new account called the state agency parking account.  State agencies may spend money on their CTR programs, parking programs, or lease costs for parking facilities without legislative appropriation.

The Office of Financial Management may authorize expenditures from the state agency parking account.  No agency may receive an allotment greater than the amount of revenue deposited into the account.

Each agency must establish a committee of public employees to advise the agency director on parking rental fees, taking into account the market rate of comparable, privately-owned rental parking in each region.

To reduce the state's subsidization of parking, state agencies may not enter into leases after July 1, 1997, that provide parking in excess of building code requirements.  The director of GA may make exceptions.

The director of GA must report to the House and Senate Transportation Committees no later than December 1, 1997, regarding the implementation of this act.

Washington State's colleges and universities collect their own parking fees, and this legislation does not affect them.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate    44 1

House     82 14 (House amended)

Senate    47 1 (Senate concurred)

Effective:  July 23, 1995