FINAL BILL REPORT

                   SB 5486

                           C 81 L 97

                      Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Revising eligibility for rural arterial programs.

Sponsors:  Senators Morton, Snyder and Prince; by request of County Road Administration Board.

Senate Committee on Transportation

House Committee on Transportation Policy & Budget

Background:  The rural arterial program, administered by the County Road Administration Board, provides grant funds to reconstruct county rural arterial roads.  At the time of the program=s creation in 1983, county roads were comprised of major and minor collectors according to the federal functional classification system.  Since 1983 the Department of Transportation has transferred approximately 309 miles of minor arterials to the counties which, according to the current statute, are not eligible for the grant funds.

Current statute makes counties ineligible for the rural arterial program grant funds if road funds are diverted for anything other than proper county road purposes.  Counties with populations between 5,000 and 8,000 are exempt from this requirement.

Summary:  Minor arterials are added to the list of roads eligible for rural arterial program grant funds.

Counties with a population of less than 8,000 are exempt from the rural arterial program eligibility requirement of not diverting road funds to other uses.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate 47 0

House     98 0

Effective:  July 27, 1997