BILL REQ. #:  H-1887.3 

Read first time 02/13/09.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to the authorization, administration, collection, and enforcement of tolls on the state route number 520 corridor; amending RCW 47.56.810, 46.61.690, 46.63.030, 46.63.040, and 46.63.075; adding new sections to chapter 47.56 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 46.63 RCW; creating new sections; prescribing penalties; and providing an effective date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   It is the intent of the legislature to impose tolls on the state route number 520 bridge to help finance construction of critical safety projects, including replacement of the floating bridge, and to generate additional funds to help finance associated projects in the state route number 520 corridor program. These associated projects include connections from Interstate 5 to the floating bridge, and from the east end of the floating bridge to state route number 202.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 47.56 RCW under the subchapter heading "toll facilities created after July 1, 2008" to read as follows:
     (1) The imposition of tolls on the state route number 520 corridor is authorized, the state route number 520 corridor is designated an eligible toll facility, and toll revenue generated in the corridor must only be expended as allowed under RCW 47.56.820.
     (2) The state route number 520 corridor consists of that portion of state route number 520 between the junctions of Interstate 5 and state route number 202.
     (3)(a) In setting the toll rates for the corridor pursuant to RCW 47.56.850, the tolling authority shall not set a toll rate:
     (i) Prior to the completion of the replacement state route number 520 floating bridge of greater than three dollars and twenty-five cents in one direction in 2008 dollars; and
     (ii) After the completion of the replacement state route number 520 floating bridge of greater than three dollars and eighty cents in one direction in 2008 dollars.
     (b) The tolling authority shall set the toll rates to generate revenue sufficient to provide for:
     (i) The issuance of up to one billion two hundred million dollars in general obligation bonds; and
     (ii) Costs associated with the project designated in subsection (4) of this section that are eligible under RCW 47.56.820.
     (4) The proceeds of the bonds designated in subsection (3)(a) of this section, which together with other appropriated and identified state and federal funds is more than sufficient to pay for pontoon construction and the replacement of the state route number 520 floating bridge, must be used only to fund:
     (a) The construction of a replacement state route number 520 floating bridge;
     (b) The construction of projects on the east and west ends of the state route number 520 floating bridge and associated landside improvements; and
     (c) Any projects on the state route number 520 corridor for which the state must provide funding in order to complete a project that is otherwise funded through federal stimulus funds.
     (5) The state toll agency may carry out the construction and improvements designated in subsection (4) of this section and administer the tolling program on the state route number 520 corridor pursuant to RCW 47.56.031, 47.56.075, and 47.56.785.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 47.56 RCW under the subchapter heading "toll facilities created after July 1, 2008" to read as follows:
     (1) Unless otherwise delegated, the department is the state toll agency with the authority to administer the tolling program on toll facilities on the state route number 520 corridor. The state toll agency may (a) collect and retain any toll charges and penalties imposed, (b) issue toll bills and notices of infraction as described under RCW 46.63.160, (c) hold administrative hearings as authorized in RCW 46.63.040, (d) use available resources to collect unpaid toll charges, including forwarding unpaid infractions to the department of licensing pursuant to RCW 46.20.270(3) and assigning the unpaid infractions to collection agencies under RCW 19.16.500, (e) allocate administrative fees and infraction charges to the toll facilities on which the fees and charges were incurred, (f) adjudicate matters involving toll charge disputes, infractions, and penalties internally, and (g) adopt rules to govern eligible toll facility usage and operations and toll collection, payment, and enforcement in the state.
     (2) If the rules adopted under subsection (1) of this section provide for the internal adjudication of tolling disputes, infractions, and penalties, a person charged with a toll or infraction who is aggrieved by the final decision in an internal adjudication may, within ten days after written notice of the final decision, appeal that decision by filing a written notice of appeal with the superior court of the county in which the toll was enforced or the infraction occurred and the state toll agency subject to the procedures under chapter 34.05 RCW.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 47.56 RCW under the subchapter heading "toll facilities created after July 1, 2008" to read as follows:
     A special account to be known as the state route number 520 corridor account is created in the motor vehicle fund in the state treasury.
     (1) Deposits to the account must include:
     (a) All proceeds of bonds issued for construction of the state route number 520 corridor, including any capitalized interest;
     (b) All of the tolls and other revenues received from the operation of the state route number 520 corridor as a toll facility, to be deposited at least monthly;
     (c) Any interest that may be earned from the deposit or investment of those revenues;
     (d) Notwithstanding RCW 47.12.063, proceeds from the sale of any surplus real property acquired for the purpose of building the replacement state route 520 floating bridge; and
     (e) All liquidated damages collected under any contract involving the construction of the replacement state route 520 floating bridge.
     (2) Toll charges, other revenues, and interest may be used to:
     (a) Pay any required costs allowed under RCW 47.56.820; and
     (b) Repay amounts to the motor vehicle fund as required.
     (3) When repaying the motor vehicle fund, the state treasurer shall transfer funds from the state route number 520 corridor account to the motor vehicle fund on or before each debt service date for bonds issued for the replacement state route 520 floating bridge project in an amount sufficient to repay the motor vehicle fund for amounts transferred from that fund to the highway bond retirement fund to provide for any bond principal and interest due on that date. The state treasurer may establish subaccounts for the purpose of segregating toll charges, bond sale proceeds, and other revenues.

Sec. 5   RCW 47.56.810 and 2008 c 122 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout this subchapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
     (1) "Tolling authority" means the governing body that is legally empowered to set, review, and adjust toll rates. Unless otherwise delegated, the transportation commission is the tolling authority for all state highways.
     (2) "Eligible toll facility" ((or "eligible toll facilities")) means any portion((s)) of the state highway system upon which tolling has been specifically identified by the legislature including, but not limited to, transportation corridors, bridges, crossings, interchanges, on-ramps, off-ramps, approaches, bistate facilities, and interconnections between highways.
     (3) "Toll revenue" or "revenue from an eligible toll facility" means toll receipts, all interest income derived from the investment of toll receipts, and any gifts, grants, or other funds received for the benefit of the eligible toll facility.
     (4) "Tolling program" means the single, integrated tolling operations used by all eligible toll facilities created after July 1, 2008, within the state, and includes both a toll collections and a toll enforcement process.
     (5) "State toll agency" means the governing body that is legally empowered to operate the tolling program, including collection and enforcement of tolls on eligible toll facilities.
     (6) "Customer-initiated payment" means the payment of a photo toll, plus an administrative fee, prior to the issuance of a toll bill and notice of infraction.
     (7) "Electronic toll collection system" means a system used by a toll facility that works in conjunction with a customer's toll account to facilitate the collection of tolls based on radio transmissions from the motor vehicle and the automatic identification or classification of vehicles that is then used to charge the appropriate electronic toll to the customer's toll account.
     (8) "Electronic toll" means the charge made to a customer's toll account when the customer's vehicle is detected by the electronic toll collection system at a toll facility. An electronic toll does not include an administrative fee.
     (9) "Photo monitoring system" means a system used by a toll facility that captures license plate images of vehicles using the toll facility. The system includes a vehicle sensor that may work in conjunction with an electronic toll collection system and may capture only the license plate image by photographing or videotaping images of the license plate of a vehicle that uses a toll facility without registering an electronic toll collection payment at the toll collection point. The state toll agency may collect and use this information for photo toll collection.
     (10) "Photo toll" means a toll assessed pursuant to the vehicle license information gathered by a photo monitoring system. A photo toll may include an administrative fee.
     (11) "Toll bill and notice of infraction" means the bill sent by the tolling agency to a customer for a photo toll, plus an appropriate administrative fee, and if unpaid after forty-five days, automatically becomes a notice of infraction.
     (12) "Customer," for toll billing purposes, means the registered owner of the vehicle who incurs a toll through the use of an eligible toll facility.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   A new section is added to chapter 47.56 RCW under the subchapter heading "toll facilities created after July 1, 2008" to read as follows:
     (1) A toll may be collected by any system that identifies the correct toll and collects payment. Toll collection systems may include electronic toll collection and photo monitoring, as well as other systems as technology becomes available.
     (2) A toll facility customer may arrange for the payment of an electronic toll through an electronic toll collection account. A customer may pay a photo toll either through customer-initiated payment or in response to a toll bill and notice of infraction.
     (3) A customer-initiated payment must be made prior to or within seventy-two hours of toll facility use. If payment is not received by the state toll agency within the seventy-two hour period, the state toll agency has sixty days from the date in which the toll was incurred to issue a toll bill, or a toll bill and notice of infraction.
     (4) A customer who receives a toll bill and notice of infraction has forty-five days to appeal or pay the photo toll. If the photo toll remains unpaid after the forty-five day period, the vehicle owner is guilty of a toll infraction under RCW 46.61.690.
     (5) Photo monitoring information is limited to capturing license plates only and may only be used for toll collection, billing, and enforcement as described in this chapter and RCW 46.63.030, 46.63.160(6), and 46.63.170(1).

Sec. 7   RCW 46.61.690 and 2004 c 231 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     Any person who uses a toll bridge, toll tunnel, toll road, or toll ferry, and the approaches thereto, operated by the state of Washington, the department of transportation, a political subdivision or municipal corporation empowered to operate toll facilities, or an entity operating a toll facility under a contract with the department of transportation, a political subdivision, or municipal corporation, at the entrance to which appropriate signs have been erected to notify both pedestrian and vehicular traffic that it is entering a toll facility or its approaches and is subject to the payment of tolls ((at the designated station for collecting tolls)), commits a traffic infraction if:
     (1) The person does not pay, refuses to pay, evades, or attempts to evade the payment of such tolls when due, or uses or attempts to use any spurious, counterfeit, or stolen ticket, coupon, token, or electronic device for payment of any such tolls, or
     (2) The person turns, or attempts to turn, the vehicle around in the bridge, tunnel, loading terminal, approach, or toll plaza where signs have been erected forbidding such turns, or
     (3) The person refuses to move a vehicle through the toll facility after having come within the area where signs have been erected notifying traffic that it is entering the area where toll is collectible or where vehicles may not turn around and where vehicles are required to pass through the toll facility for the purpose of collecting tolls.

Sec. 8   RCW 46.63.030 and 2007 c 101 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A law enforcement officer, or the state toll agency, as defined under RCW 47.56.810, in the case of toll enforcement under (d) of this subsection, has the authority to issue a notice of traffic infraction:
     (a) When the infraction is committed in the officer's presence;
     (b) When the officer is acting upon the request of a law enforcement officer in whose presence the traffic infraction was committed;
     (c) If an officer investigating at the scene of a motor vehicle accident has reasonable cause to believe that the driver of a motor vehicle involved in the accident has committed a traffic infraction;
     (d) When ((the)) a photo toll and infraction ((is)) are detected through the use of a photo ((enforcement)) monitoring system under RCW 46.63.160; or
     (e) When the infraction is detected through the use of an automated traffic safety camera under RCW 46.63.170.
     (2) A court may issue a notice of traffic infraction upon receipt of a written statement of the officer that there is reasonable cause to believe that an infraction was committed.
     (3) If any motor vehicle without a driver is found parked, standing, or stopped in violation of this title or an equivalent administrative regulation or local law, ordinance, regulation, or resolution, the officer finding the vehicle shall take its registration number and may take any other information displayed on the vehicle which may identify its user, and shall conspicuously affix to the vehicle a notice of traffic infraction.
     (4) In the case of failure to redeem an abandoned vehicle under RCW 46.55.120, upon receiving a complaint by a registered tow truck operator that has incurred costs in removing, storing, and disposing of an abandoned vehicle, an officer of the law enforcement agency responsible for directing the removal of the vehicle shall send a notice of infraction by certified mail to the last known address of the person responsible under RCW 46.55.105. The notice must be entitled "Littering -- Abandoned Vehicle" and give notice of the monetary penalty. The officer shall append to the notice of infraction, on a form prescribed by the department of licensing, a notice indicating the amount of costs incurred as a result of removing, storing, and disposing of the abandoned vehicle, less any amount realized at auction, and a statement that monetary penalties for the infraction will not be considered as having been paid until the monetary penalty payable under this chapter has been paid and the court is satisfied that the person has made restitution in the amount of the deficiency remaining after disposal of the vehicle.

Sec. 9   RCW 46.63.040 and 2002 c 237 s 20 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) All violations of state law, local law, ordinance, regulation, or resolution designated as traffic infractions in RCW 46.63.020 may be heard and determined by a district court, except as otherwise provided in this section.
     (2) Any municipal court has the authority to hear and determine traffic infractions pursuant to this chapter.
     (3) Any city or town with a municipal court may contract with the county to have traffic infractions committed within the city or town adjudicated by a district court.
     (4) District court commissioners have the authority to hear and determine traffic infractions pursuant to this chapter.
     (5) Any district or municipal court may refer juveniles age sixteen or seventeen who are enrolled in school to a youth court, as defined in RCW 3.72.005 or 13.40.020, for traffic infractions.
     (6) The boards of regents of the state universities, and the boards of trustees of the regional universities and of The Evergreen State College have the authority to hear and determine traffic infractions under RCW 28B.10.560.
     (7) The state toll agency, as defined under RCW 47.56.810, may hear and determine toll disputes and infractions in the state of Washington under chapters 47.56 and 34.05 RCW.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   A new section is added to chapter 46.63 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) For the purposes of this section:
     (a) "Customer," for toll billing purposes, means the registered owner of the vehicle who incurs a toll through the use of an eligible toll facility.
     (b) "Electronic toll" means the charge made to a customer's toll account when the customer's vehicle is detected by the electronic toll collection system at a toll facility. An electronic toll does not include an administrative fee.
     (c) "Electronic toll collection system" means a system used by a toll facility that works in conjunction with a customer's toll account and uses various communications and electronic technologies to facilitate the collection of tolls based on radio transmissions from the motor vehicle and the automatic identification or classification of vehicles from which information is used to charge the appropriate electronic toll to the customer's toll account.
     (d) "Photo monitoring system" means a system used by a toll facility that captures license plate images of vehicles using the toll facility. The system includes a vehicle sensor installed that may work in conjunction with an electronic toll collection system and may capture the license plate image by photographing or videotaping images of the license plate of a vehicle that uses a toll facility without registering an electronic toll collection payment at the toll collection point. The state toll agency may collect and use this information for photo toll collection.
     (e) "Photo toll" means a toll assessed pursuant to the vehicle license information gathered by a photo monitoring system. A photo toll may include an administrative fee.
     (f) "State toll agency" means the governing body that is legally empowered to operate the tolling program, as defined under RCW 47.56.810, including collection and enforcement of tolls on eligible toll facilities as defined under RCW 47.56.810.
     (g) "Toll bill and notice of infraction" means the bill sent by the state toll agency to a customer for a photo toll, plus an appropriate administrative fee, and if unpaid after forty-five days, automatically becomes a notice of infraction.
     (2) This section applies only to toll bill and notice of infractions issued by the state toll agency.
     (3) This section does not prohibit a law enforcement officer from issuing a notice of traffic infraction to a person in control of a vehicle at the time a violation occurs under RCW 46.63.030(1) (a), (b), or (c).
     (4) Toll collection systems include electronic toll collection and photo monitoring systems.
     (5) The use of a toll collection system is subject to the following requirements:
     (a) The state toll agency shall utilize and administer toll collection systems that are simple, unified, and interoperable.
     (b) To the extent practicable, the state toll agency shall avoid the use of toll booths.
     (c) The state toll agency shall set statewide standards and protocols for all toll facilities within the state, including those toll facilities authorized by local authorities.
     (d) The state toll agency may not sell, distribute, or make available in any way, the names and addresses of electronic toll collection system account holders, unless otherwise required to do so by law.
     (6) The use of a photo monitoring system for photo toll processing and billing and the issuance of toll bills and notices of infraction is subject to the following requirements:
     (a) Photo monitoring systems may take photographs, digital photographs, microphotographs, videotapes, or other recorded images of the vehicle and vehicle license plate only.
     (b) The state toll agency may issue a toll bill and notice of infraction to customers who do not initiate toll payment within seventy-two hours of incurring a toll. The state toll agency shall mail a toll bill and notice of infraction within sixty days from the date in which the customer incurs a toll charge to the registered owner of the vehicle or to the renter of a vehicle. The state toll agency shall include with the toll bill and notice of infraction a certificate or facsimile of the certificate, based upon inspection of photographs, microphotographs, videotape, or other recorded images produced by a photo monitoring system, stating the facts supporting the toll bill and notice of infraction. This certificate or facsimile is prima facie evidence of the facts contained in it and is admissible in a proceeding charging a photo toll and infraction under this chapter. The photographs, digital photographs, microphotographs, videotape, or other recorded images evidencing the photo toll and infraction must be available for inspection and admission into evidence in a proceeding to adjudicate the liability for the infraction.
     (c) All photographs, digital photographs, microphotographs, videotape, or other recorded images captured by a photo monitoring system are for the exclusive use of the state toll agency in the collection and billing of photo tolls and in the discharge of duties under this section and are not open to the public and may not be used in a court in a pending action or proceeding unless the action or proceeding relates to a toll charge or violation under this chapter or chapter 47.56 RCW.
     (d) All locations where a photo monitoring system is used must be clearly marked by placing signs in locations that clearly indicate to a driver that he or she is entering a zone where traffic laws are enforced by a photo monitoring system.
     (7) Infractions detected through the use of photo monitoring systems are not part of the registered owner's driving record under RCW 46.52.101 and 46.52.120. Infractions generated by the use of photo monitoring systems under this section must be processed in the same manner as parking infractions, including for the purposes of RCW 46.16.216 and 46.20.270(3).
     (8) The monetary amount due for an infraction detected through the use of a photo monitoring system is the amount of the toll and an administrative fee, plus a penalty of forty dollars.
     (9)(a) If the registered owner of the vehicle is a rental car business, the department of transportation or a law enforcement agency shall, before a toll bill and notice of infraction is issued under this section, provide a written notice to the rental car business that a toll bill and notice of infraction may be issued to the rental car business if the rental car business does not, within thirty days of the mailing of the written notice, provide to the issuing agency by return mail:
     (i) A statement under oath stating the name and known mailing address of the customer driving or renting the vehicle when the infraction occurred; or
     (ii) A statement under oath that the business is unable to determine who was driving or renting the vehicle at the time the infraction occurred because the vehicle was stolen at the time of the infraction. A statement provided under this subsection must be accompanied by a copy of a filed police report regarding the vehicle theft.
     (b) In lieu of identifying the vehicle operator, the rental car business may pay the applicable toll and fee.
     (c) Timely mailing of the statements described in (a)(i) and (ii) of this subsection to the issuing state toll agency relieves a rental car business of any liability under this chapter for the notice of infraction.
     (d) The state toll agency may mail a toll bill and notice of infraction within sixty days from the date of receipt of the statements described in (a)(i) and (ii) of this subsection from a rental car business to the customer identified by the rental car business.

Sec. 11   RCW 46.63.075 and 2005 c 167 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) In a traffic infraction case involving an infraction detected through the use of a photo ((enforcement)) monitoring system under RCW 46.63.160, or detected through the use of an automated traffic safety camera under RCW 46.63.170, proof that the particular vehicle described in the notice of traffic infraction was in violation of any such provision of RCW 46.63.160 or 46.63.170, together with proof that the person named in the notice of traffic infraction was at the time of the violation the registered owner of the vehicle, constitutes in evidence a prima facie presumption that the registered owner of the vehicle was the person in control of the vehicle at the point where, and for the time during which, the violation occurred.
     (2) For infractions detected through the use of an automated traffic safety camera under RCW 46.63.170 only, this presumption may be overcome only if the registered owner states, under oath, in a written statement to the court or in testimony before the court that the vehicle involved was, at the time, stolen or in the care, custody, or control of some person other than the registered owner.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 12   Part headings used in this act are not any part of the law.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 13   The code reviser shall alphabetize and renumber the definitions in RCW 47.56.810.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 14   This act takes effect January 1, 2010.