FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 2599

C 23 L 16

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Authorizing the freight mobility strategic investment board to remove funding allocation for projects after a certain number of years without construction occurring.

Sponsors: Representatives Orcutt, Clibborn, Moscoso, Harmsworth, Tarleton, Zeiger, Hayes, Hargrove, Rossetti, McBride and Wilson.

House Committee on Transportation

Senate Committee on Transportation

Background:

The Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board (FMSIB) was created by the Legislature in 1998 to implement the state's freight mobility strategic investment program. The FMSIB was directed to solicit, review, evaluate, and prioritize freight projects from public entities. The FMSIB is comprised of 12 members representing various aspects of the state and transportation system including cities, counties, ports, railroads, trucking, shipping, the general public, the Office of Financial Management, and the Washington State Department of Transportation. The FMSIB is the administering agency for two freight mobility accounts in the State Treasury: the Freight Mobility Investment Account and the Freight Mobility Multimodal Account. Both accounts receive a statutory transfer of $6 million each biennium. The FMSIB is scheduled to receive an additional $123 million through 2031 from the Connecting Washington transportation revenue package passed in 2015.

The FMSIB currently maintains an active project list of 20 projects worth $378.4 million with the FMSIB contribution at $70.9 million. The FMSIB also has a deferred project list of 18 projects, some of which date back to the inception of the FMSIB in 1998.

Summary:

There is a six year time limit that projects determined to be not ready to proceed by the FMSIB may retain their position on the FMSIB priority project list.

After six years, the FMSIB may remove a project from consideration for any of the following reasons: the project has been unable to obtain the necessary funding or financing to proceed; the project becomes a lower local priority and is unlikely to be constructed within two years; or that are quantifiable issues that make it highly unlikely the project could obtain necessary permits or could be constructed as originally proposed.

The sponsoring public entities of the projects removed are required to submit a new application to the FMSIB if they wish to restore any project for funding consideration. The new applications must be evaluated by the FMSIB in the same manner as new applicants.

Votes on Final Passage: