2101 AMH SIMP LEAT 087

HB 2101 - H AMD TO H AMD (2101 AMH CLIB LEAT 072) 866

By Representative Simpson

    Beginning on page 1, line 3 of the amendment, strike all material through page 4, line 24, and insert the following:

   "NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) In 2006, the regional transportation commission was created and tasked with evaluating transportation governance in the central Puget Sound region and directed to develop options for a new regional transportation governance proposal. The commission's 2006 report to the legislature strongly recommended creating a regional entity that has authority over the planning, prioritizing, and funding of regional transportation projects in the area.

   (2) The existing transportation delivery system is highly fragmented. While each individual entity or agency may perform well, there is no overall political or performance accountability for the system as a whole. Implementation of a regional decision-making entity would facilitate the coordination and integration of both capital and operational planning, prioritizing, and funding, and could offer an improved method of decision-making for the Puget Sound region. Previously adopted performance measures, such as concurrency, have not resulted in reliable and predictable mobility for people and goods throughout the region. Implementation of a regional decision-making entity could assist in the development of new performance measures and expectations which lead to optimization of both existing transportation resources and future investments.

   (3) Moving toward unification of some transportation functions and decision-making in a regional entity is a complex undertaking, requiring careful planning and consideration of existing and potential roles and responsibilities and existing and required contracts and operational challenges. The legislature finds that it is in the best interest of the citizens of the state to plan for the institutional and structural changes needed to achieve a more unified approach to regional transportation, and that any legislation that may be necessary to create a regional authority and implement sweeping changes to existing governance structures must be carefully, deliberately, and thoughtfully considered in order to avoid unintended consequences.

   (4) In moving toward structural change, it is imperative that transportation improvements that are being implemented in the Puget Sound region through the combined efforts of the transportation partnership act, the nickel package, and the Sound Move projects, and the progress being made on the joint roads and transit package required by the legislature in 2006, should be preserved and supported to avoid delays and additional cost and to maintain public confidence.

   NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. IMPLEMENTATION BOARD FOR REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION. (1) An implementation board for regional transportation is created within the geographic boundaries of any regional transportation planning organization that contains a county with a population greater than one million five hundred thousand. An implementation board for regional transportation is a separate and independent authority from the regional transportation planning organization and has the same boundaries as the planning authority. The implementation board's primary purpose is to enable and assist with the transition to and formation of a regional transportation decision-making entity, as prescribed under this act.

   (2) The implementation board for regional transportation shall consist of the following individuals:

   (a) Eight legislative members chosen by the co-chairs of the joint transportation committee. The co-chairs shall designate the chair of the board;

   (b) The governor, or the governor's designee; and

   (c) The county executive, or chair of the county legislative authority, as appropriate, of King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties.

   NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. POWERS AND DUTIES The implementation board for regional transportation has the following powers and duties:

   (1) Prepare findings, recommendations, and legislation directed toward the goal of providing for a more unified transportation system in the region, improving both political and performance accountability. The implementation board will recommend actions consistent with recommendation 6 from the blue ribbon commission on transportation, dated December 2000: "Provide regions with the ability to plan, select, fund, and implement (or contract for the implementation of) projects identified to meet the region's transportation and land use goals," and with the findings of the regional transportation commission, dated December 2006. The implementation board must examine opportunities for improving transportation decision-making and for improving the reliable and predictable movement of people and goods throughout the region. The proposed legislation must make recommendations addressing the following accountability and regional decision-making issues:

   (a) The appropriate responsibilities of a regional entity related to all modes of transportation, including ferries, highways, streets, roads, transit, rail, marine, and air, and the relationship to the existing entities or agencies responsible for these modes;

   (b) The legal, financial, and programmatic details of any enabling legislation relating to existing local authorities, local transit agencies, and regional transit authorities;

   (c) The responsibility for defining regional transportation goals and objectives, and the standards that the region should use to monitor achievement and performance and to ensure public accountability;

   (d) Integration of regional planning with regional transportation planning, to ensure that the region's goals are met and that adverse externalities are minimized;

   (e) The steps necessary for the orderly transition of existing organizations into a regional entity, if required, and the steps necessary for federal approval to transition any newly formed entity into the region's metropolitan planning organization;

   (f) The participation mechanisms to be used to ensure adequate participation in policy development by local and regional governments; and

   (g) Required revenue and other legal authority needed by the regional entity.   

   (2) Provide direction on reorganizing the department of transportation's existing administrative regions, such that only one administrative region is dedicated solely to supporting the central Puget Sound region, and that this administrative region coordinate, plan, and integrate project schedules and design plans with local and regional entities;

   (3) Meet periodically and adopt its own rules and procedures. All meetings of the board shall be public meetings and shall comply with the open public meetings act, chapter 42.30 RCW;

   (4) Maintain proper records, which shall be subject to public records requests pursuant to chapter 42.56 RCW;

   (5) Contract with appropriate professional consultants and establish legal, technical, and advisory work groups to assist in its work, as necessary;

   (6) Contract with the department of transportation for administrative support and technical assistance;

   (7) Authorize all expenses related to the board's work;

   (8) The implementation board may be entitled to state funding, as appropriated by the legislature, to pay for expenses incurred by the board or through contracts in carrying out the duties authorized in this act; and

   (9) The implementation board shall submit to the legislative standing transportation committees and the governor, along with any supporting material:

   (a) By January 1, 2008, draft legislation forming a regional transportation decision-making entity, including appropriate initial powers and duties; and

   (b) By January 1, 2009:

   (i) A status report reflecting progress made toward federal approval to transition any newly formed entity into the region's metropolitan planning organization;

   (ii) Findings and recommendations regarding reorganizing the department of transportation's existing administrative regions, as directed in subsection (2) of this section; and

   (iii) Final findings and recommendations regarding the powers and duties that should be assigned to a regional transportation decision-making entity, addressing the issues identified in subsection (1) of this section.

   NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 43.09 RCW as follows:

   The state auditor shall conduct an independent and comprehensive analysis of the benefits and costs associated with forming a regional transportation decision-making entity, as determined by the implementation board for regional transportation pursuant to subsection (3) of this act. The auditor shall submit a preliminary analysis, based on the implementation board's 2008 draft legislation and recommendations, as required under section 2 of this act, to the joint transportation committee and governor no later than June 1, 2008. A final report shall be submitted to the legislative standing transportation committees and the governor by January 1, 2009.

    NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.

    NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 1 through 3 constitute a new chapter in Title 47 RCW.

    NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Captions and part headings used in this act are not any part of the law."

EFFECT: Strikes all material in the striking amendment, which finds that the current system of transportation governance in the central Puget Sound region is inadequate to meet the needs of the region and state, directs the Joint Transportation Committee to convene a task force to consider the impacts of establishing a new regional governance structure, and requires the task force to submit draft legislation to the Legislature by December 15, 2007 that implements the recommendations of the Regional Transportation Commission.

    Provides that the existing transportation delivery system is     highly fragmented, and that implementation of a regional     transportation decision-making entity would facilitate the     coordination and integrating of capital and operational     planning, prioritizing, and funding.

 Creates a thirteen-member implementation board for regional transportation within the full boundaries of King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties. The board is comprised as follows: Eight legislators, chosen by the co-chairs of the Joint Transportation Committee; the Governor or her designee; and the county executive, or chair of the county legislative authority, of King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties.

    Establishes that the primary purpose of the implementation     board is to enable and assist with the transition to and     creation of a regional transportation decision-making     authority that results in a more unified transportation     system with improved public accountability.

    Provides that implementation board must maintain records,     which are subject to the Public Records Act, and hold public     meetings in accordance with the Open Public Meetings.

    Requires the State Auditor to conduct a cost-benefit     analysis of forming a regional entity.

    Requires that the implementation board submit to the     Legislature and Governor, by January 1, 2008, draft     legislation creating a new regional decision-making entity     and establishing its initial powers and duties; and, by     January 1, 2009, final recommendations for the entity's     powers and duties, as well as a status report regarding     redesignation of the new entity as the region's metropolitan     planning organization, and recommendations for reorganizing     the Department of Transportation's administrative regions.