BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to siting of transportation facilities; adding a new section to chapter 47.80 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 47.06 RCW; and adding a new chapter to Title 47 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature recognizes that Washington's transportation system is owned and operated by federal and state governments, cities, counties, regional transit agencies, port districts, and the private sector. The legislature also recognizes that local, regional, and state governments have the authority to develop comprehensive transportation plans in coordination with each other. Sometimes during the planning process, however, pressing questions emerge that policymakers cannot resolve through existing regional and local governmental arrangements, including those created by the Growth Management Act. Under these circumstances, the state has a compelling interest in asserting its leadership by ensuring that transportation facilities significant to the state can be sited.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The transportation facility siting council is established consisting of the following members: (a) The secretary of the department of transportation, or a designee; (b) the director of the department of community, trade, and economic development, or a designee; (c) a member of the transportation commission appointed by the governor, who shall be the chair of the council; (d) two members of the general public with special knowledge or background in transportation issues, appointed by the governor; and (e) a member of a growth management hearings board, selected by the governor and serving in a nonvoting capacity.

The two members of the general public who are appointed by the governor shall serve for staggered four-year terms of office, calculated from the first day of January in the year in which they are appointed. Staggering of terms of office shall be established by the appointment of the initial appointees, one of whom shall be appointed to a four-year term of office and the other shall be appointed to a two-year term of office.

The member of a growth management hearings board shall be a member of the growth management hearings board that hears appeals from actions taken under the Growth Management Act by counties not located in the region in which the proposed transportation project under consideration is located or that is subject to the proposed transportation plan under consideration.

(2) The chair of the council may designate another councilmember to serve as the acting chair in the absence of the chair. The department of transportation shall provide all administrative and staff support for the council.

(3) The transportation facility siting council shall be convened to make recommendations to the governor whenever the transportation commission passes a resolution declaring that an impasse exists in the siting of a transportation facility of state-wide significance, as provided in section 3 of this act. The council has one hundred eighty days after the date on which the transportation commission resolution is passed to make a decision regarding the siting of the facility of state-wide significance and to communicate its decision in writing to the governor.

(4) The responsibility of the council is to make transportation facility siting recommendations that reflect the interest of the entire state, not just to choose one of a set of local options that were rejected by the local authority. The legislature strongly encourages the council to draw upon existing information and analyses when deliberating on issues related to its siting responsibility and to consider reasons for the inability of the local and regional governments to resolve the issue. The council may consider alternative sites outside the region in which local and regional officials have unsuccessfully attempted to site the transportation facility.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. If the transportation commission finds that all of the following have occurred, then it may declare an impasse and refer the issue to the transportation facility siting council: (1) A regional transportation plan does not satisfactorily address the state's interest as defined in RCW 47.06.040 with respect to planning for transportation needs through siting of transportation facilities;

(2) There has been ample time to address siting of transportation facilities in the regional transportation plan and local comprehensive plans, but either no decision has been reached or the process has resulted in a decision that will not address the state's transportation needs as outlined in RCW 47.06.040;

(3) The process outlined in RCW 36.70A.106 by which the department of transportation reviews and suggests changes to the regional transportation plans and local comprehensive plans with respect to the state's transportation facility siting needs has been exhausted; and

(4) The department of transportation has sought by all reasonable and informal means to encourage local governments and regional bodies to cooperate in a planning and decision-making process that addresses in a timely manner state-wide transportation facility siting needs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) Subject to the conditions set forth in it, a decision by the governor binds the state and each of its political subdivisions, such as departments, agencies, divisions, bureaus, commissions, boards, counties, cities, towns, ports, and special purpose districts, whether a political subdivision is a member of the council or not, regarding approval of a site and the construction and operation of a proposed transportation facility.

(2) The governor must accept or reject the siting council's recommendation within sixty days. If the governor rejects the siting council's recommendation, he or she may request the siting council to provide an alternative recommendation within thirty days. The governor has another sixty days to accept or reject the siting council's alternative recommendation. Once the governor has made a decision, the governor must inform in writing the members of the transportation facility siting council, the transportation commission, the chair(s) of the legislative transportation committee, the county or city affected, and the regional transportation planning organization located in the region in which the transportation project will be sited.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The legislature may invalidate the governor's decision if two-thirds of each house of the legislature votes to object to the governor's choice of sites. The legislature must vote by the end of the first regular legislative session convened after the governor's decision. This will ensure that the legislature has at least one full regular legislative session for deliberation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This chapter supersedes other laws for establishing the location of transportation facilities of state-wide significance or rules adopted under state law for establishing the location of transportation facilities of state-wide significance. However, the requirements of this chapter and rules adopted under it do not supersede the State Environmental Policy Act, the State Clean Air Act, the State Clean Water Act, the Shoreline Management Act, the laws relating to solid and hazardous waste management, and all the related portions of the Washington Administrative Code that implement these environmental laws.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. A new section is added to chapter 47.80 RCW to read as follows:

The regional transportation planning organization must adopt a regional transportation plan that adequately implements the decision of the governor to site a transportation facility of state-wide significance, as provided in section 4 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 47.06 RCW to read as follows:

The legislature declares the following transportation facilities and services to be of state-wide significance: The interstate highway system, interregional state principal arterials, including ferry connections that serve state-wide travel, intercity passenger rail services, intercity high-speed ground transportation, major passenger intermodal terminals, mainline freight railroads, shortline freight rail lines that are identified as essential by the department's freight rail plan, the Columbia/Snake navigable river system, marine ports engaging in international and interstate trade, and high-capacity transportation systems serving regions as defined in RCW 81.104.015. The department shall assert leadership and cooperate with regional transportation planning organizations, counties, cities, transit agencies, public ports, and the private sector, by including in the state's multimodal transportation plan improvements to transportation facilities and services of state-wide significance. Improvements to facilities and services of state-wide significance identified in the state-wide multimodal transportation plan developed under RCW 47.01.071(3) are considered essential public facilities under RCW 36.70A.200.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. A new section is added to chapter 47.06 RCW to read as follows:

The department of transportation in cooperation with towns, cities, counties, ports, transit agencies, regional transportation planning organizations, and the department of community, trade, and economic development, the federal government, and private sector, shall recommend transportation facilities and services to include in the definition of essential public facilities as defined under RCW 36.70A.200.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. Sections 1 through 6 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 47 RCW.