BILL REQ. #:  S-4619.1 

Read first time 01/24/08.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to requiring local bridge owners to maintain, replace, or appropriate funds for bridges deemed to be especially deficient; amending RCW 36.78.090 and 46.68.110; adding a new section to chapter 47.58 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   While most locally owned bridges are inspected, rated, and reported on every two years, as required under federal law, there is insufficient federal and local funding to provide for the immediate repair or replacement of all structurally deficient bridges. Given that bridges found to be severely compromised or deficient may pose a danger to lives, and could result in a disruption to commerce and quality of life, the legislature finds that a priority must be given to the repair, rehabilitation, or replacement of these bridges, especially deficient bridges.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 47.58 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) As used in this section:
     (a) "Bridge" means a structure: Located on a public road, including supports erected over a depression or an obstruction, such as water, a highway, or a railway; having a track or passageway for carrying traffic or other moving loads; and having an opening measured along the center of the roadway of more than twenty feet between undercopings of abutments or spring lines of arches, or extreme ends of openings for multiple boxes, and may also include multiple pipes, where the clear distance between openings is less than half of the smaller contiguous opening. "Bridge" includes any bridge that is subject to the national bridge inspection standards.
     (b) "National bridge inspection standards" means the federal highway administration standards for the mandatory inspection and evaluation of all structures defined as highway bridges located on all public roads (23 C.F.R. Sec. 650, subpart C; 23 U.S.C. Sec. 151).
     (c) "Public road" means any road or street under the jurisdiction of and maintained by a public authority and open to public travel.
     (d) "Sufficiency rating" means a value of zero through one hundred, based on the national bridge inspection standards, that is used to evaluate all state and locally owned bridges and establishes eligibility and priority for replacement or rehabilitation of bridges with federal highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation program funds.
     (e) "Sufficiency rating report" means the most recent bridge inspection report and supporting documentation that establishes a bridge's sufficiency rating.
     (2) For each city-owned or county-owned bridge, including bridges jointly owned by cities and counties, that has a sufficiency rating of less than ten, the bridge owner or owners shall, within six months from the date of the most recent sufficiency rating report:
     (a) Begin to repair or rehabilitate the bridge, excluding any preconstruction design, environmental, or other analyses, such that the bridge's sufficiency rating exceeds eighty; or
     (b) Develop and adopt a finance plan to fully fund the (i) repair or rehabilitation of the bridge to achieve a sufficiency rating in excess of eighty, or (ii) replacement of the bridge. The finance plan may include federal funds if such funds have been secured. Until the finance plan is implemented and work has begun on the repair, rehabilitation, or replacement of the bridge, the bridge owner or owners shall appropriate from their funding sources at least fifty percent of the total estimated cost to repair, rehabilitate, or replace the bridge into a dedicated account.
     (3) In the case of bridges jointly owned by local jurisdictions, the owners shall share responsibility equally under this section unless an interlocal agreement establishes otherwise.
     (4) By December 2008, and each December thereafter, the department shall submit an annual report to the legislature, the state treasurer, and the county road administration board on the status of all bridges subject to the requirements of this section. At a minimum, the report must identify each bridge and its sufficiency rating, and include a determination of whether the bridge owners are in compliance with subsection (2) of this section.
     (5) Except as provided in subsections (6) and (7) of this section, upon receipt of a determination from the department that a city or county is in noncompliance with this section:
     (a) For city-owned bridges, the state treasurer shall withhold twenty-five percent of the motor vehicle fuel tax revenues, as provided in RCW 46.68.110(4), to which the city is entitled, until fifty percent of the estimated cost to replace the bridge, or to repair or rehabilitate the bridge such that the sufficiency rating exceeds eighty, has been secured in a dedicated account by the owner of the bridge.
     (b) For county-owned bridges, the county road administration board shall withhold twenty-five percent of the motor vehicle fuel tax revenues, as provided in RCW 36.78.090 and 46.68.120(4), to which the county is entitled, until fifty percent of the estimated cost to replace the bridge, or to repair or rehabilitate the bridge such that the sufficiency rating exceeds eighty, has been secured in a dedicated account by the owner of the bridge.
     (c) For bridges jointly owned by local jurisdictions, the state treasurer and the county road administration board shall withhold the funds identified in (a) and (b) of this subsection consistent with the parties' relative responsibility for repairs, rehabilitation, or replacement costs as provided in the interlocal agreement. If an interlocal agreement does not exist or if the interlocal agreement fails to clearly provide for the parties' responsibilities for such costs, the state treasurer and the county road administration board shall withhold equal amounts.
     (6) If load-carrying restrictions are imposed, posted, and enforced on any bridge subject to the requirements of this section such that the useful life of the bridge is substantially extended, as determined by the department:
     (a) For city-owned bridges, the state treasurer shall withhold fifteen percent of the motor vehicle fuel tax revenues, as provided in RCW 46.68.110(4), to which the city is entitled, until forty percent of the estimated cost to replace the bridge, or to repair or rehabilitate the bridge such that the sufficiency rating exceeds eighty, has been secured in a dedicated account by the owner of the bridge.
     (b) For county-owned bridges, the county road administration board shall withhold fifteen percent of the motor vehicle fuel tax revenues, as provided in RCW 36.78.090 and 46.68.120(4), to which the county is entitled, until forty percent of the estimated cost to replace the bridge, or to repair or rehabilitate the bridge such that the sufficiency rating exceeds eighty, has been secured in a dedicated account by the owner of the bridge.
     (c) For bridges jointly owned by local jurisdictions, the state treasurer and the county road administration board shall withhold the funds identified in (a) and (b) of this subsection consistent with the parties' relative responsibility for repairs, rehabilitation, or replacement costs as provided in the interlocal agreement. If an interlocal agreement does not exist or if the interlocal agreement fails to clearly provide for the parties' responsibilities for such costs, the state treasurer and the county road administration board shall withhold equal amounts.
     (7) If the bridge is closed without a funding plan in place that fully funds either the replacement of the bridge or the repair or rehabilitation of the bridge such that the sufficiency rating exceeds eighty:
     (a) For city-owned bridges, the state treasurer shall withhold forty percent of the motor vehicle fuel tax revenues, as provided in RCW 46.68.110(4), to which the city is entitled, until seventy-five percent of the estimated cost to replace the bridge, or to repair or rehabilitate the bridge such that the sufficiency rating exceeds eighty, has been secured in a dedicated account by the owner of the bridge.
     (b) For county-owned bridges, the county road administration board shall withhold forty percent of the motor vehicle fuel tax revenues, as provided in RCW 36.78.090 and 46.68.120(4), to which the county is entitled, until seventy-five percent of the estimated cost to replace the bridge, or to repair or rehabilitate the bridge such that the sufficiency rating exceeds eighty, has been secured in a dedicated account by the owner of the bridge.
     (c) For bridges jointly owned by local jurisdictions, the state treasurer and the county road administration board shall withhold the funds identified in (a) and (b) of this subsection consistent with the parties' relative responsibility for repairs, rehabilitation, or replacement costs as provided in the interlocal agreement. If an interlocal agreement does not exist or if the interlocal agreement fails to clearly provide for the parties' responsibilities for such costs, the state treasurer and the county road administration board shall withhold equal amounts.

Sec. 3   RCW 36.78.090 and 1984 c 7 s 33 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Before May 1st of each year the board shall transmit to the state treasurer certificates of good practice on behalf of the counties which during the preceding calendar year:
     (a) Have submitted to the state department of transportation or to the board all reports required by law or regulation of the board; ((and))
     (b) Have reasonably complied with provisions of law relating to county road administration and with the standards of good practice as formulated and adopted by the board; and
     (c) Beginning by May 1, 2009, and before May 1st of each year thereafter, have been found to be in compliance with section 2(2) of this act by the department of transportation.
     (2) The board shall not transmit to the state treasurer a certificate of good practice on behalf of any county failing to meet the requirements of subsection (1) of this section or section 2(2) of this act, but the board shall, in such case and before May 1st, notify the county and the state treasurer of its reasons for withholding the certificate.
     (3)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, the state treasurer, upon receiving a notice that a certificate of good practice will not be issued on behalf of a county, or that a previously issued certificate of good practice has been revoked, shall, effective the first day of the month after that in which notice is received, withhold from such county its share of motor vehicle fuel taxes distributable pursuant to RCW 46.68.120 until the board thereafter issues on behalf of such county a certificate of good practice or a conditional certificate. After withholding or revoking a certificate of good practice with respect to any county, the board may thereafter at any time issue such a certificate or a conditional certificate when the board is satisfied that the county has complied or is diligently attempting to comply with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section.
     (b) The state treasurer, upon receiving a notice that a certificate of good practice will not be issued on behalf of a county for noncompliance with section 2(2) of this act, shall, effective the first day of the month after the notice is received, withhold from the county its share of motor vehicle fuel taxes distributable pursuant to RCW 46.68.120(4) as directed in section 2 of this act.
     (4) The board may, upon notice and a hearing, revoke a previously issued certificate of good practice or substitute a conditional certificate therefor when, after issuance of a certificate of good practice, any county fails to meet the requirements of subsection (1)(a) and (b) of this section, but the board shall in such case notify the county and the state treasurer of its reasons for the revocation or substitution.
     (5) Motor vehicle fuel taxes withheld from any county pursuant to this section shall not be distributed to any other county, but shall be retained in the motor vehicle fund to the credit of the county originally entitled thereto. Whenever the state treasurer receives from the board a certificate of good practice issued on behalf of such county he shall distribute to such county all of the funds theretofore retained in the motor vehicle fund to the credit of such county.

Sec. 4   RCW 46.68.110 and 2007 c 148 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     Funds credited to the incorporated cities and towns of the state as set forth in RCW 46.68.090 shall be subject to deduction and distribution as follows:
     (1) One and one-half percent of such sums distributed under RCW 46.68.090 shall be deducted monthly as such sums are credited and set aside for the use of the department of transportation for the supervision of work and expenditures of such incorporated cities and towns on the city and town streets thereof, including the supervision and administration of federal-aid programs for which the department of transportation has responsibility: PROVIDED, That any moneys so retained and not expended shall be credited in the succeeding biennium to the incorporated cities and towns in proportion to deductions herein made;
     (2) Thirty-three one-hundredths of one percent of such funds distributed under RCW 46.68.090 shall be deducted monthly, as such funds accrue, and set aside for the use of the department of transportation for the purpose of funding the cities' share of the costs of highway jurisdiction studies and other studies. Any funds so retained and not expended shall be credited in the succeeding biennium to the cities in proportion to the deductions made;
     (3) One percent of such funds distributed under RCW 46.68.090 shall be deducted monthly, as such funds accrue, to be deposited in the small city pavement and sidewalk account, to implement the city hardship assistance program, as provided in RCW 47.26.164. However, any moneys so retained and not required to carry out the program under this subsection as of July 1st of each odd-numbered year thereafter, shall be retained in the account and used for maintenance, repair, and resurfacing of city and town streets for cities and towns with a population of less than five thousand;
     (4) Except as provided in section 2 of this act, after making the deductions under subsections (1) through (3) of this section and RCW 35.76.050, the balance remaining to the credit of incorporated cities and towns shall be apportioned monthly as such funds accrue among the several cities and towns within the state ratably on the basis of the population last determined by the office of financial management.