Background:

Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) and Manufacturing/Industrial Centers.

The Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) is a federally designated metropolitan planning organization and a state designated regional transportation planning organization with a membership comprised of King, Pierce, Kitsap, and Snohomish counties as well as several cities, ports, state entities, tribes, and transit agencies. The PSRC develops policies and makes decisions about transportation planning, economic development, and growth management throughout the four-county metropolitan area surrounding Puget Sound.

In 2009 the PSRC adopted VISION 2040, a long-range growth management, transportation and economic development strategy aimed at accommodating population and job growth expected to be in the Puget Sound region by the year 2040. Part of the VISION 2040 regional growth strategy is to concentrate housing and job growth into defined areas, called centers. This includes identifying regional manufacturing/industrial centers (MICs) as locations for industrial land and employment.

Manufacturing/industrial centers are existing employment areas with intensive, concentrated manufacturing and industrial land uses that cannot be easily mixed with other activities. Manufacturing/industrial centers can be characterized as areas of large contiguous blocks served by the region’s major transportation infrastructure, including roads, rail, and port facilities. The PSRC has currently designated eight MICs, including Ballard/Interbay, Duwamish, Frederickson, Kent, North Tukwila, Port of Tacoma, Paine Field/Boeing Everett, and South Kitsap Industrial Area.

State Geologist and Washington State Earthquake Hazards Scenario Catalog.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR), through the appointed State Geologist, is responsible for maintaining the state geological survey. The survey is required to meet a number of objectives, including an assessment of seismic, landslide, and tsunami hazards. This assessment must include the identification and mapping of volcanic, seismic, landslide, and tsunami hazards, an estimation of potential consequences, and the likelihood of occurrence.

The DNR hosts a geologic information portal online that contains the Washington State Earthquake Hazards Scenario Catalog (Catalog). The Catalog contains loss estimates for varying earthquake scenarios. These scenarios represent estimates of the most serious earthquake hazards. Loss estimates for the scenarios and other data calculations are produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazards United States loss estimation software using scenario earthquakes developed by the United States Geological Survey. The purpose of the Catalog is to assist managers and emergency planners in visualizing potential impacts of various seismic events.

Summary of Bill:

The bill contains an intent section recognizing the importance of the maritime industry and other manufacturing sectors in Washington.

State Geologist and Washington State Earthquake Hazards Scenario Catalog.

The State Geologist must update and improve the Catalog with respect to the geographic areas designated as MICs by the PSRC as of January 1, 2014, including the Ballard/Interbay, Duwamish, Frederickson, Kent, North Tukwila, Port of Tacoma, Paine Field/Boeing Everett, and South Kitsap Industrial Area MICs. The update must also include the adjacent geographic areas and infrastructure critical to the operations of industry in those designated MICs.

The State Geologist must submit a report with a summary of his or her findings to the Joint Legislative Task Force on the Economic Resilience of Manufacturing in Washington, the Governor, and the appropriate committees of the Legislature by November 1, 2014.

Joint Legislative Task Force.

The Joint Legislative Task Force on the Economic Resilience of Manufacturing in Washington (Task Force) is created. The Task Force is composed of twenty-one members as follows:

six members from the House of Representatives, including three from each caucus appointed by the Speaker of the House;
six members from the Senate, including three from each caucus appointed by the President of the Senate;
two nonvoting members representing local government interests jointly appointed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate;
four nonvoting members representing private manufacturing sector interests jointly appointed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate; and
one member representing the Department of Commerce, one member representing the Department of Transportation, and one member representing the Office of Regulatory Assistance, all of whom are appointed by the Governor and are nonvoting members.

The Task Force is required to develop recommendations that achieve certain objectives as follows:

identify the manufacturing sectors of economic significance to the state;

identify and assess the critical public infrastructure that supports and sustains manufacturing sectors;
identify the barriers to maintaining and expanding manufacturing sectors;
identify and assess the educational resources and support services available to local governments with respect to supporting and sustaining the development of manufacturing sectors;
promote regulatory consistency and certainty in the areas of urban planning, land use permitting, and business development in a manner that encourages manufacturing in urban areas;
encourage cooperation between the public and private sectors to foster economic growth;
identify changes to state policy necessary for fostering resilience and growth in manufacturing sectors; and
maximize the opportunities for employment in the maritime industry and other manufacturing sectors in Washington.

The recommendations must include short-term and long-term action plans for the Legislature to support and sustain the maritime industry and other manufacturing sectors in Washington. The recommendations of the Task Force may also include specific legislative approaches. In developing recommendations, the Task Force must consult with local governments, state agencies, and private sector interests.

The Task Force must submit a work plan by December 1, 2014, and final findings and recommendations by November 1, 2015, to the Governor and the appropriate committees of the Legislature.