BILL REQ. #:  H-2259.1 

READ FIRST TIME 03/05/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to reducing the duplication of electric facilities; and amending RCW 80.32.010.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 80.32.010 and 1985 c 469 s 62 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The legislative authority of the city or town having control of any public street or road, or, where the street or road is not within the limits of any incorporated city or town, then the county legislative authority of the county wherein the road or street is situated, may grant authority for the construction, maintenance and operation of transmission lines for transmitting electric power, together with poles, wires and other appurtenances, upon, over, along and across any such public street or road, and in granting this authority the legislative authority of the city or town, or the county legislative authority, as the case may be, may prescribe the terms and conditions on which the transmission line and its appurtenances, shall be constructed, maintained and operated upon, over, along and across the road or street, and the grade or elevation at which the same shall be constructed, maintained and operated: PROVIDED, That on application being made to the county legislative authority for such authority, the county legislative authority shall fix a time and place for hearing the same, and shall cause the county auditor to give public notice thereof at the expense of the applicant, by posting written or printed notices in three public places in the county seat of the county, and in at least one conspicuous place on the road or street or part thereof, for which application is made, at least fifteen days before the day fixed for such hearing, and by publishing a like notice once a week for two consecutive weeks in the official county newspaper, the last publication to be at least five days before the day fixed for the hearing, which notice shall state the name or names of the applicant or applicants, a description of the roads or streets or parts thereof for which the application is made, and the time and place fixed for the hearing. The hearing may be adjourned from time to time by order of the county legislative authority. If after such hearing the county legislative authority shall deem it to be for the public interest to grant the authority in whole or in part, it may make and enter the proper order granting the authority applied for or such part thereof as it deems to be for the public interest, and shall require the transmission line and its appurtenances to be placed in such location on or along the road or street as it finds will cause the least interference with other uses of the road or street. In case any such transmission line is or shall be located in part on private right of way, the owner thereof shall have the right to construct and operate the same across any county road or county street which intersects the private right of way, if the crossing is so constructed and maintained as to do no unnecessary damage: PROVIDED, That any person or corporation constructing the crossing or operating the transmission line on or along the county road or county street shall be liable to the county for all necessary expense incurred in restoring the county road or county street to a suitable condition for travel.
     (2)(a) In addition to the authority in subsection (1) of this section, where two or more electric utilities, as defined in RCW 19.29A.010(12), operate within a contiguous or overlapping geographic area, a city, town, or county legislative authority may require an agreement between the electric utilities to discourage and reduce the duplication of transmission lines and other appurtenances and to carry out the policy in RCW 54.48.020.
     (b) The agreement must be filed with the city, town, or county that requires the agreement and the city, town, or county must approve the agreement by adopting an ordinance.
     (c) This subsection shall not apply to an electric utility's transmission lines or other appurtenances in place prior to the effective date of this act. Any addition to or expansion of transmission lines and appurtenances existing after the effective date of this act are subject to this subsection.