Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Capital Budget Committee

HB 1210

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Background:

Capital Projects Advisory Review Board

In 2005, the Capital Projects Advisory Review Board (CPARB) was established to monitor and evaluate the use of traditional and alternative public works contracting procedures and evaluate potential future use of other alternative contracting procedures by general or special purpose governments including state agencies, institutions of higher education, counties, cities, towns, ports, and school districts. The CPARB has authority for developing alternative public works processes, and for approving the use of those processes by those entities. The alternative contracting processes include General Contractor/Construction Manager, Design-Build, and Job Order Contracting.

The CPARB consists of 23 members. Of those, 14 are appointed by the Governor. The remaining four consist of two from the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House, and two from the Senate appointed by the President of the Senate, one from each major caucus. Three of the members are selected by public owners, including the Association of Washington Cities, the Washington State Association of Counties, Washington Public Ports Association, Washington Public Hospital Districts, and the Washington State School Director's Association.

Regional Transit AuthoritiesIn 1992, the Legislature authorized creation of Regional Transit Authorities (RTA) for the purpose of developing and operating high capacity transportation systems. An RTA must consist of two or more contiguous counties, each having a population of 400,000 persons or more. A high capacity transportation system is an urban public transportation system that operates principally on exclusive rights-of-way and provides a substantially higher level of passenger capacity, speed, and service frequency than traditional public transportation systems operating mainly on general purpose roadways.

The RTA authority includes acquiring by purchase, condemnation, gift, or grant and to lease, construct, add to, improve, replace, repair, maintain, operate, and regulate the use of high capacity transportation facilities and properties within authority boundaries including surface, underground, or overhead railways, tramways, busways, buses, bus sets, entrained and linked buses, and ferries.