BILL REQ. #: H-3141.1
| State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2012 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/10/12. Referred to Committee on Environment.
AN ACT Relating to higher education reporting requirements; amending RCW 70.235.050; creating a new section; and repealing RCW 28B.10.569.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 It is the intent of the legislature to
minimize the regulatory burden on institutions of higher education and
to prioritize scarce resources to be directed to the education of
students rather than unnecessary reporting requirements. It is the
intent of the legislature specifically that reporting requirements that
are duplicative of federal reporting requirements be eliminated.
Sec. 2 RCW 70.235.050 and 2009 c 519 s 2 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) All state agencies shall meet the statewide greenhouse gas
emission limits established in RCW 70.235.020 to achieve the following,
using the estimates and strategy established in subsections (2) and (3)
of this section:
(a) By July 1, 2020, reduce emissions by fifteen percent from 2005
emission levels;
(b) By 2035, reduce emissions to thirty-six percent below 2005
levels; and
(c) By 2050, reduce emissions to the greater reduction of fifty-seven and one-half percent below 2005 levels, or seventy percent below
the expected state government emissions that year.
(2)(a) By June 30, 2010, all state agencies except institutions of
higher education as defined in RCW 28B.10.016 shall report estimates of
emissions for 2005 to the department, including 2009 levels of
emissions, and projected emissions through 2035.
(b) State agencies required to report under RCW 70.94.151 must
estimate emissions from methodologies recommended by the department and
must be based on actual operation of those agencies. Agencies not
required to report under RCW 70.94.151 shall derive emissions estimates
using an emissions calculator provided by the department.
(3) By June 30, 2011, each state agency except institutions of
higher education as defined in RCW 28B.10.016 shall submit to the
department a strategy to meet the requirements in subsection (1) of
this section. The strategy must address employee travel activities,
teleconferencing alternatives, and include existing and proposed
actions, a timeline for reductions, and recommendations for budgetary
and other incentives to reduce emissions, especially from employee
business travel.
(4) By October 1st of each even-numbered year beginning in 2012,
each state agency except institutions of higher education as defined in
RCW 28B.10.016 shall report to the department the actions taken to meet
the emission reduction targets under the strategy for the preceding
fiscal biennium. The department may authorize the department of
((general administration)) enterprise services to report on behalf of
any state agency having fewer than five hundred full-time equivalent
employees at any time during the reporting period. The department
shall cooperate with the department of ((general administration))
enterprise services and the department of ((community, trade, and
economic development)) commerce to develop consolidated reporting
methodologies that incorporate emission reduction actions taken across
all or substantially all state agencies.
(5) All state agencies shall cooperate in providing information to
the department, the department of ((general administration)) enterprise
services, and the department of ((community, trade, and economic
development)) commerce for the purposes of this section.
(6) The governor shall designate a person as the single point of
accountability for all energy and climate change initiatives within
state agencies. This position must be funded from current full-time
equivalent allocations without increasing budgets or staffing levels.
If duties must be shifted within an agency, they must be shifted among
current full-time equivalent allocations. All agencies, councils, or
work groups with energy or climate change initiatives shall coordinate
with this designee.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 RCW 28B.10.569 (Crime statistics reporting--Campus safety plans -- Memoranda of understanding and mutual aid
agreements -- Task forces -- Contact information) and 2008 c 168 s 1 & 1990
c 288 s 7 are each repealed.