Washington State House of Representatives	BILL ANALYSIS
Transportation

HB 1679

Brief Description:  Clarifying environmental mitigation efforts.

Sponsors:  Representatives Fisher, Mitchell and Poulsen; by request of The Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation.

Brief Summary of Bill

$Requires counties to submit to the County Road Administration Board (CRAB) documentation addressing the environmental mitigation costs of those projects identified in a county=s six-year transportation program.

$Requires cities or counties applying for funding from the Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) to submit, prior to construction approval, documentation addressing the environmental mitigation costs of the project under consideration.

Hearing Date:  2/5/01

Staff:  Reema Griffith (786‑7301).

Background: 

Within the Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation=s recommendation to ?achieve construction and project delivery efficiencies@ a specific sub-recommendation was to ?make mitigation more cost-effective.@  Although many transportation projects require an environmental impact statement be completed as part of the local and state permitting process, cities and counties are not currently required to submit, as a condition of receiving funding, any specific detail of environmental mitigation needs or costs to either CRAB or TIB.  Because of this, environmental mitigation cost information available to either agency is inconsistent and varies in content, thus making it difficult for either of them to have any impact on the cost-effectiveness of any given mitigation action to be carried out by a city or county.

Summary of Bill: 

In applying for rural arterial preservation funding counties are required to submit to CRAB, documentation addressing the environmental mitigation actions needed for those projects identified in a county=s six-year transportation program.  In their submittal, counties must indicate the amounts to be spent on both the environmental permitting process as well as the actual mitigation action itself. 

For county arterial preservation funding, CRAB must ensure that environmental mitigation actions applied to county road projects are cost effective and presented as a percentage of the overall project costs.

For a city or county to be considered for funding by the TIB, they must submit documentation addressing the environmental mitigation actions needed for the project under consideration, specifying the amounts to be spent on both the permitting process as well as the actual mitigation action.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Requested on February 2, 2001.

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