Bill Analysis

HB 1625

Title:                         An act relating to county legislative authority confirmation of growth           management hearings boards members.

Brief Description:             Requires senate confirmation of governor-appointed growth management           hearings board members.

Sponsors:Representatives Thompson, Sump, Pennington, Mulliken, Mielke, Boldt, Schoesler and Dunn

Hearing Date: February 17, 1997

Background:   The Growth Management Act (GMA) established three separate growth management hearings boards (hearings boards) to hear appeals challenging the actions of state agencies, counties, and cities with respect to GMA requirements.  The state is divided into three geographic areas, and a separate hearings board hears appeals challenging the actions of counties and cities located within the geographic area associated with the particular hearings board.  These three hearings boards are the Eastern Washington Board, the Western Washington Board, and the Central Puget Sound Board.

     Each board consists of three members who are experienced in land use issues and who reside within the jurisdictional boundaries of the applicable board.  At least one member of each board must be a Washington attorney, and at least one member must have been a city or county elected official.  The Governor appoints each board member for staggered terms of six years, and any vacancies on a board are filled by appointment by the Governor.

     Any board member may be removed for inefficiency, malfeasance, and misfeasance in office under specific written charges filed by the Governor.  The Governor then transmits these charges to the member accused and the chief justice of the supreme court.  The chief justice then designates a tribunal composed of three judges of the superior court to hear and adjudicate the charges.

Summary of Bill:               In addition to being appointed by the Governor, members of the growth management hearings boards must be confirmed by a majority vote of all the county legislators of the counties within the jurisdictional boundaries of the board.  Similarly, any vacancies on the boards are filled by appointment by the Governor, and those appointments are also subject to senate confirmation.

     In addition to the provision allowing board members to be removed under charges filed by the Governor, each hearings board member may be recalled at any time at the written request of the Governor by two-thirds of the county legislators of the counties within the jurisdictional boundaries of the hearings board.

Fiscal Note:  Local government, requested February 11, 1997.