SENATE BILL REPORT

                   SB 6503

              As Passed Senate, February 13, 1998

Title:  An act relating to unanticipated transportation receipts.

Brief Description:  Regulating unanticipated receipts in the transportation budget.

Sponsors:  Senators Horn, Haugen, Benton, Goings, Wood and Winsley.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Transportation:  1/28/98, 1/29/98 [DP].

Passed Senate, 2/13/98, 48-0.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

Majority Report:  Do pass.

  Signed by Senators Prince, Chair; Benton, Vice Chair; Wood, Vice Chair; Goings, Haugen, Heavey, Horn, Jacobsen, Oke, Patterson, Prentice, Rasmussen and Sellar.

Staff:  Reema Shawa (786-7301)

Background:  Under current law, when an agency receives funding which was not anticipated in its current budget but the agency wants to use the funds upon receipt for a specific purpose, it is required that the head of the agency submit a request for an allotment amendment to the Governor.  A copy of the amendment request must also be simultaneously submitted to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, Senate Ways and Means, and House Appropriations.  Under these provisions, when an agency that receives funding from a transportation fund or account experiences an unanticipated receipt, neither the House and Senate standing committees on transportation nor the interim Legislative Transportation Committee are provided notice of the request for an allotment amendment.    

If the Governor approves the request for an allotment amendment, the approval statement is transmitted simultaneously to the head of the agency, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, Senate Ways and Means, and House Appropriations.  If the approved amendment request impacts any transportation funds or accounts, there is no notification provided to the House and Senate standing committees on transportation or the Legislative Transportation Committee.

Summary of Bill:  Whenever an agency which receives funding from a transportation fund or account experiences an unanticipated receipt, the head of the agency must submit to the Governor a request for an allotment amendment, setting forth the facts constituting the need for the expenditure and the estimated amount to be expended.  The request for an allotment amendment is simultaneously transmitted to the House and Senate standing committees on transportation, if the Legislature is in session.  During the legislative interim, the amendment request is submitted to the Legislative Transportation Committee.

If the Governor approves a request for an allotment amendment which has transportation funding implications, a copy of the approval statement must be transmitted simultaneously to the head of the agency, and to the House and Senate standing committees on transportation.  During the legislative interim, the Governor's approval statement is transmitted simultaneously to the Legislative Transportation Committee.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  Providing the transportation committees with current allotment amendment request information will improve communications between transportation agencies and the Legislature.  This type of information will also provide members with important fiscal information which will help them carry out their responsibilities during the legislative session.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Helga Morgenstern, WSDOT.