SENATE BILL REPORT

SSB 5337

As Passed Senate, April 16, 2003

Title: An act relating to the agency council on coordinated transportation.

Brief Description: Revising the agency council on coordinated transportation.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Highways & Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators Horn, Haugen and Rasmussen; by request of Office of Financial Management).

Brief History:

Committee Activity: Highways & Transportation: 2/18/03, 3/6/03 [DPS].

Passed Senate: 4/16/03, 25-24.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORTATION

Majority Report: That Substitute Senate Bill No. 5337 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.

      Signed by Senators Horn, Chair; Benton, Vice Chair; Swecker, Vice Chair; Esser, Finkbeiner, Haugen, Jacobsen, Kastama, Mulliken, Oke, Prentice and Spanel.

Staff: Tami Neilson (786-7452)

Background: In 1998, the Legislature created the Program for Agency Coordinated Transportation, commonly known as the Agency Council on Coordinated Transportation (ACCT), and the ACCT Council to coordinate transportation services for people with special transportation needs. Those persons are defined as people, including their personal attendants, who because of physical or mental disability, income status, or age are unable to transport themselves or purchase transportation.

The ACCT Council is composed of 17 members and has many duties in statute which include: developing a process for working with local agencies to convene local forums to address coordination issues; administering and managing grant funds; providing technical support to communities and local planning processes; disseminating and encouraging the widespread implementation of successful projects; and reporting to the Legislature every two years on its activities, including the progress of community planning processes.

The 2001-2003 budget for ACCT is $877,000. The ACCT Council is repealed on June 30, 2007, and the entire ACCT program is repealed on June 30, 2008.

Summary of Bill: The ACCT program is to be implemented by the state to the extent that funds are appropriated. If funds are available, an advisory group may be created to expend the funds for the purpose of facilitating the coordination of special needs transportation. The state is encouraged to seek local and federal funding for support of the program.

The ACCT council is eliminated, as are its duties.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

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

Testimony For: The goals of ACCT are noble but have remained elusive. ACCT has 21 duties, which are basically no duties.

Testimony Against: Listing new duties and changing the council membership would serve ACCT well. Special needs transportation will suffer if all funding for this program is eliminated. Concerns: Special needs transportation must be in whatever transportation strategy is adopted by the Legislature. Some ACCT projects are about to start, and the local groups are dedicated to coordinating special needs. If the state invests in coordination now, there will be savings in the future.

Testified: Andrew Johnsen, Governor's Policy Office (pro); Paula Hammond, Washington State Department of Transportation (w/concerns); Mary Jo Cady, Community Transportation Association, Northwest (con); Bruce Reeves, Senior Citizens Lobby (con); Aubrey Davis, Transportation Commission (w/concerns); Faith Trimble, FLT Consulting, Inc (w/concerns).