BILL REQ. #:  S-3931.2 

Read first time 01/18/10.   Referred to Committee on Economic Development, Trade & Innovation.

     AN ACT Relating to the creation of an optional multiagency permitting team; reenacting and amending RCW 43.84.092; adding new sections to chapter 43.42 RCW; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 43.42 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature finds that the state of Washington has implemented a number of successful measures to streamline, coordinate, and consolidate the multiparty, multijurisdictional permitting and regulatory decision-making process. The office of regulatory assistance was developed and implemented at a time when the state faced a crisis in its economic competitiveness. The multiagency permitting team for transportation was developed and implemented at a time when the state's transportation system faced a crisis in public confidence concerning transportation project delivery. The legislature further finds that the state of Washington is now facing an economic and financial crisis that requires immediate action to spur economic development and the creation of jobs.
     (2) The legislature intends to:
     (a) Draw from and extend the benefits of proven permit streamlining solutions to future project proponents and aid the state's recovery by authorizing an optional multiagency permitting team modeled after the multiagency permitting team developed and implemented for state transportation projects. It is the purpose of this act to provide willing permit applicants and project proponents with permit coordination and integrated regulatory decision-making services on a cost-reimbursed basis; and
     (b) Phase-in a revenue-neutral permit streamlining approach to expedite permit and regulatory decision making.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 43.42 RCW to read as follows:
     (1)(a) The office of regulatory assistance must develop and advertise an optional multiagency permitting team for coordinated permitting and integrated regulatory decision making starting with the Puget Sound basin.
     (b) The expenses associated with operating the optional multiagency permitting team must be recovered by the office of regulatory assistance using existing state cost-reimbursement and interagency cost-sharing authorities as applicable, except the initial administrative costs and other costs that may arise that are not recoverable through cost-reimbursement or cost-sharing mechanisms may be covered by funds from the multiagency permitting team account created in section 3 of this act.
     (c) The director of the office of regulatory assistance must solicit donations and such other funds as the director deems appropriate from public and private sources for the purposes of covering the initial administrative costs and other costs associated with the operation of the optional multiagency permitting team which are not recoverable. All such solicited funds must be placed in the multiagency permitting team account created in section 3 of this act.
     (2) The optional multiagency permitting team must be:
     (a) A mobile team, capable of travelling together as a team, initially throughout the Puget Sound basin;
     (b) Located initially in central Puget Sound;
     (c) Staffed by senior-level permitting and regulatory decision- making personnel representing the Washington state departments of ecology, fish and wildlife, and natural resources; and
     (d) Managed by the office of regulatory assistance through a team leader responsible for:
     (i) Hiring, staffing, and managing daily operations and coordinating workload for the optional multiagency permitting team;
     (ii) Developing, defining, and providing a set of coordinated permitting and integrated decision-making services consistent with those set forth in subsection (3) of this section;
     (iii) Developing and executing funding agreements with applicants, project proponents, regulatory agencies, and others as necessary to ensure the financial viability of the optional multiagency permitting team;
     (iv) Measuring and regularly reporting on team performance, results and outcomes achieved, including improved: Permitting predictability, interagency early project coordination, interagency accessibility, interagency relationships, mitigation effectiveness, and project delivery;
     (v) Conducting outreach, marketing, and advertising of team services and team availability;
     (vi) Developing and maintaining partnerships and working relationships with local, state, and federal organizations not core to the optional multiagency permitting team that can be called upon to join the team on a project-by-project basis;
     (vii) Implementing issue and dispute resolution protocols;
     (viii) Incorporating and using virtual tools to support permitting and regulatory coordination, collaboration, and expedited decision making; and
     (ix) Extending and subsequently implementing the optional multiagency permitting team approach to other significant geographic regions of the state.
     (3) The optional multiagency permitting team must at a minimum provide the following core services:
     (a) A permit advisory service to help applicants identify applicable permits and regulatory approvals;
     (b) A preapplication coordination service to help applicants understand applicable requirements and plan out with the assistance of the regulatory agencies an optimally sequenced permitting and regulatory decision-making strategy and approach for the overall project;
     (c) A permit coordination service to set schedules and agreed-upon time frames for the applicant and regulatory decision makers and to track, monitor, and report progress made in meeting those schedules and time frames;
     (d) An integrated, unified decision-making service to provide the applicant and project proponents with consistent and consolidated regulatory review and decision making; and
     (e) A mitigation coordination and optimization service to help applicants and regulatory agencies collaborate on and implement mitigation obligations within a watershed context so that superior environmental results can be achieved.
     (4) Local and federal permitting and regulatory personnel must be incorporated into the optional multiagency permitting team whenever possible and at least on a project-by-project basis. Moneys recouped through state cost-reimbursement and interagency cost-sharing authorities may be used to cover local and federal participation.
     (5) The optional multiagency permitting team must provide services for complex and moderately complex projects requiring multiple permits and regulatory approvals and having multiple points of regulatory jurisdiction. The optional multiagency permitting team must market and advertise its services, targeting such project types as:
     (a) Environmental, clean-up, restoration, and enhancement projects;
     (b) Projects requiring extensive mitigation coordination and optimization assistance;
     (c) Larger scale public, private, and port development projects, including marinas, docks, terminals, ferry landings, bulkheads, roads/bridges, and outfalls;
     (d) More complex joint aquatic resources permit application projects;
     (e) Aquaculture projects; and
     (f) Energy, power generation, and utility projects.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 43.42 RCW to read as follows:
     The multiagency permitting team account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts from solicitations authorized in section 2 of this act must be deposited in the account. Expenditures from the account may be used only for covering the initial administrative costs of multiagency permitting teams and such other costs associated with the teams as may arise that are not recoverable through cost-reimbursement or cost-sharing mechanisms. Only the director of the office of regulatory assistance or the director's designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to the allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.

Sec. 4   RCW 43.84.092 and 2009 c 479 s 31, 2009 c 472 s 5, and 2009 c 451 s 8 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     (1) All earnings of investments of surplus balances in the state treasury shall be deposited to the treasury income account, which account is hereby established in the state treasury.
     (2) The treasury income account shall be utilized to pay or receive funds associated with federal programs as required by the federal cash management improvement act of 1990. The treasury income account is subject in all respects to chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for refunds or allocations of interest earnings required by the cash management improvement act. Refunds of interest to the federal treasury required under the cash management improvement act fall under RCW 43.88.180 and shall not require appropriation. The office of financial management shall determine the amounts due to or from the federal government pursuant to the cash management improvement act. The office of financial management may direct transfers of funds between accounts as deemed necessary to implement the provisions of the cash management improvement act, and this subsection. Refunds or allocations shall occur prior to the distributions of earnings set forth in subsection (4) of this section.
     (3) Except for the provisions of RCW 43.84.160, the treasury income account may be utilized for the payment of purchased banking services on behalf of treasury funds including, but not limited to, depository, safekeeping, and disbursement functions for the state treasury and affected state agencies. The treasury income account is subject in all respects to chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for payments to financial institutions. Payments shall occur prior to distribution of earnings set forth in subsection (4) of this section.
     (4) Monthly, the state treasurer shall distribute the earnings credited to the treasury income account. The state treasurer shall credit the general fund with all the earnings credited to the treasury income account except:
     The following accounts and funds shall receive their proportionate share of earnings based upon each account's and fund's average daily balance for the period: The aeronautics account, the aircraft search and rescue account, the budget stabilization account, the capitol building construction account, the Cedar River channel construction and operation account, the Central Washington University capital projects account, the charitable, educational, penal and reformatory institutions account, the cleanup settlement account, the Columbia river basin water supply development account, the common school construction fund, the county arterial preservation account, the county criminal justice assistance account, the county sales and use tax equalization account, the data processing building construction account, the deferred compensation administrative account, the deferred compensation principal account, the department of licensing services account, the department of retirement systems expense account, the developmental disabilities community trust account, the drinking water assistance account, the drinking water assistance administrative account, the drinking water assistance repayment account, the Eastern Washington University capital projects account, the education construction fund, the education legacy trust account, the election account, the energy freedom account, the energy recovery act account, the essential rail assistance account, The Evergreen State College capital projects account, the federal forest revolving account, the ferry bond retirement fund, the freight congestion relief account, the freight mobility investment account, the freight mobility multimodal account, the grade crossing protective fund, the public health services account, the health system capacity account, the personal health services account, the high capacity transportation account, the state higher education construction account, the higher education construction account, the highway bond retirement fund, the highway infrastructure account, the highway safety account, the high occupancy toll lanes operations account, the industrial insurance premium refund account, the judges' retirement account, the judicial retirement administrative account, the judicial retirement principal account, the local leasehold excise tax account, the local real estate excise tax account, the local sales and use tax account, the medical aid account, the mobile home park relocation fund, the motor vehicle fund, the motorcycle safety education account, the multiagency permitting team account, the multimodal transportation account, the municipal criminal justice assistance account, the municipal sales and use tax equalization account, the natural resources deposit account, the oyster reserve land account, the pension funding stabilization account, the perpetual surveillance and maintenance account, the public employees' retirement system plan 1 account, the public employees' retirement system combined plan 2 and plan 3 account, the public facilities construction loan revolving account beginning July 1, 2004, the public health supplemental account, the public transportation systems account, the public works assistance account, the Puget Sound capital construction account, the Puget Sound ferry operations account, the Puyallup tribal settlement account, the real estate appraiser commission account, the recreational vehicle account, the regional mobility grant program account, the resource management cost account, the rural arterial trust account, the rural Washington loan fund, the site closure account, the small city pavement and sidewalk account, the special category C account, the special wildlife account, the state employees' insurance account, the state employees' insurance reserve account, the state investment board expense account, the state investment board commingled trust fund accounts, the state patrol highway account, the state route number 520 corridor account, the supplemental pension account, the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge account, the teachers' retirement system plan 1 account, the teachers' retirement system combined plan 2 and plan 3 account, the tobacco prevention and control account, the tobacco settlement account, the transportation 2003 account (nickel account), the transportation equipment fund, the transportation fund, the transportation improvement account, the transportation improvement board bond retirement account, the transportation infrastructure account, the transportation partnership account, the traumatic brain injury account, the tuition recovery trust fund, the University of Washington bond retirement fund, the University of Washington building account, the urban arterial trust account, the volunteer firefighters' and reserve officers' relief and pension principal fund, the volunteer firefighters' and reserve officers' administrative fund, the Washington fruit express account, the Washington judicial retirement system account, the Washington law enforcement officers' and firefighters' system plan 1 retirement account, the Washington law enforcement officers' and firefighters' system plan 2 retirement account, the Washington public safety employees' plan 2 retirement account, the Washington school employees' retirement system combined plan 2 and 3 account, the Washington state health insurance pool account, the Washington state patrol retirement account, the Washington State University building account, the Washington State University bond retirement fund, the water pollution control revolving fund, and the Western Washington University capital projects account. Earnings derived from investing balances of the agricultural permanent fund, the normal school permanent fund, the permanent common school fund, the scientific permanent fund, and the state university permanent fund shall be allocated to their respective beneficiary accounts. All earnings to be distributed under this subsection (4) shall first be reduced by the allocation to the state treasurer's service fund pursuant to RCW 43.08.190.
     (5) In conformance with Article II, section 37 of the state Constitution, no treasury accounts or funds shall be allocated earnings without the specific affirmative directive of this section.

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.