Brief Description: Providing comprehensive membership of significant jurisdictions on the executive board of regional transportation planning organizations.

Sponsors: By Representatives Rolfes, Armstrong, Eddy, Appleton, Clibborn and Jarrett.

House Committee on Transportation
Senate Committee on Transportation

Background:

Federal law requires that metropolitan areas with a population of more than 50,000 persons must have a metropolitan planning organization (MPO). This designation is made by the Governor and must have the concurrence of local government officials representing 75 percent of the population within the area, including the central city or as otherwise provided for by state or local law. The formation of these agencies is a precondition for receiving federal highway and transit funds. There are currently 11 MPOs in Washington.

State law authorizes the voluntary association of governments for transportation planning purposes in the form of regional transportation planning organizations (RTPO). The federally-mandated MPOs are designated as the RTPOs under the state's 1990 Growth Management Act (GMA). State requirements for regional transportation planning largely mirror federal requirements. They also include a requirement to certify that the transportation elements of local comprehensive plans conform with the GMA and are consistent with the regional transportation plan.

Each RTPO must: (1) encompass at least one county; (2) have a population of at least 100,000 or contain at least three counties; and (3) have as members all counties within the region and at least 60 percent of the cities and towns within the region representing at least 75 percent of the combined population of the cities and towns.

To qualify for state planning funds, every RTPO containing a county with a population of more than one million must provide voting membership on its executive board to the state Transportation Commission, the Department of Transportation, and the four largest public port districts within the region, as determined by gross operating revenues. In addition, the RTPO must assure that at least 50 percent of the county and city local elected officials who serve on the executive board also serve on transit agency boards or on a regional transit authority.

The 2006 Legislature added additional executive board voting membership requirements in the biennial budget as a condition for qualifying for state funding to RTPOs containing a county with a population of more than one million. Under those additional requirements are that voting membership must be provided to: any incorporated principal city of a metropolitan statistical area within the region, as designated by the United States Census Bureau; and any incorporated city within the region with a population of more than 80,000. In addition, such RTPOs were directed to review their executive board membership criteria to ensure that the criteria appropriately reflects a true and comprehensive representation of the organization's jurisdictions of significance within the region.

The only county with a population of more than one million is King County. The RTPO (and MPO) that contains King County, along with Pierce, Kitsap, and Snohomish counties, is the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). The PSRC executive board has 32 voting members.

The 2006 legislative executive board voting membership modifications had the effect of adding Bellevue, Renton, Kent, Bremerton, and Federal Way to the PSRC. The 2006 new membership requirements expire with the budget on June 30, 2007.

Summary:

To qualify for state planning funds, regional transportation planning organizations that consist of one or more counties with a population of more than one million must add executive board voting membership as follows: the state Transportation Commission; the Department of Transportation; and the four largest public port districts within the region, as determined by gross operating revenues; any incorporated principal city of a metropolitan statistical area within the region; and any incorporated city within the region with a population of more than 80,000. (The executive board membership requirements provided in previous budgets are substantially codified with the effect of adding representatives from Bellevue, Renton, Kent, Bremerton, and Federal Way to the Puget Sound Regional Council.)

Votes on Final Passage:

House   96   0
Senate   41   3   (Senate amended)
House   98   0   (House concurred)

Effective: July 22, 2007