FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 1884

                                  C 229 L 88

BYRepresentatives Prince, Nealey and D. Sommers 

Permitting legal loads from other states to move in border areas.

House Committe on Transportation

Senate Committee on Transportation

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

The Ports of Lewiston, Clarkston and Whitman are located within close proximity on the Washington/Idaho border.  All three Ports barge logs down the Snake and Columbia Rivers to Portland for export.

The state of Idaho allows log haulers to carry weights greater than allowed in Washington.  A log truck can carry an additional 3,800 pounds on a tandem axle when operating in the state of Idaho.  The legal limit for a tandem in Idaho is 37,800; in Washington the limit is 34,000.  Because logs are a reducible load, an Idaho truck driver is required to reduce the load when transporting logs to the Ports of Whitman and Clarkston.  Therefore, Idaho log haulers find it more convenient to drop their logs at the Port of Lewiston.  For the state of Washington, this represents a potential loss of income.

The state provides funds for law enforcement and traffic control in communities near the Canadian border.  By appropriation, Whatcom County and the cities of Blaine, Everson, Friday Harbor, Lynden, Nooksack, Northport, Oroville, Port Angeles and Sumas currently receive approximately $250,000 per biennium for border law enforcement activities.  Because funds are allocated by appropriation, no constant funding source is provided to the communities along the international border.

SUMMARY:

Legal loads of up to 80,000 pounds in a bordering state that imposes a sales tax may be legally transported to a port district in the state of Washington if the movement is within four miles of the bordering state. Such movements are not allowed on the Interstate system.  Triple trailers are not allowed to operate within the four-mile area.

The border law enforcement funding source is changed from a General Fund appropriation to a percentage of the revenues in the Liquor Revolving Fund.  Three-tenths of one percent in state liquor profits is allocated to defined border areas prior to distribution to the General Fund and other eligible counties, cities and towns.  The border law enforcement distribution is made by the Department of Community Development, based on border traffic and the impact on law enforcement along the border. These provisions take effect July 1, 1989.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

      House 96   0

      Senate    44     3 (Senate amended)

      Senate    42     1 (Senate receded)

      House 92   0

EFFECTIVE:June 9, 1988