S-1127.2 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 5742
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State of Washington 53rd Legislature 1993 Regular Session
By Senators Vognild, Newhouse, Snyder, Bauer, Barr, Owen, Sellar, Loveland, Jesernig, Anderson, Winsley, Hochstatter, West, Sutherland, Sheldon, M. Rasmussen, Haugen, Hargrove, Moore, Bluechel and Oke
Read first time 02/11/93. Referred to Committee on Transportation.
AN ACT Relating to transportation facilities crossing boundaries of multiple jurisdictions; adding a new section to chapter 44.40 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that state transportation facilities are a unique type of essential public facility. While other essential public facilities such as airports, state educational facilities, state and local correctional facilities, solid waste handling facilities, and public health facilities are sited within single jurisdictions, state transportation facilities often cross multiple jurisdictional boundaries. As a result, each jurisdiction, including towns, cities, counties, and state agencies, can require the department of transportation to apply for separate land use and environmental permits for construction or maintenance on state routes that touch their jurisdiction. These permit requirements are often duplicative and time-consuming, costing the state's taxpayers millions of dollars and needlessly delaying critical transportation projects. Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature that those state transportation projects deemed necessary for the preservation of the health, safety, and welfare of the traveling public be relieved of the permit requirements of state and local agencies.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 44.40 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The legislative transportation committee may waive all permits required by state and local agencies for those state transportation projects found to be immediately necessary for the health, safety, or welfare of the traveling public. The legislative transportation committee shall make the determinations of necessity by formal resolution.
(2) For those projects designated under subsection (1) of this section, the department of transportation shall notify all affected entities of the legislative transportation committee's findings and inform the entity that under this chapter, all permit requirements and land use standards have been waived.
(3) For all state transportation projects selected for waiver under subsection (1) of this section, the department of transportation shall, to the maximum extent practicable, use best efforts to adhere to those land use and environmental standards that otherwise would have been required by state and local agencies.
(4) This section does not relieve the department of transportation from those permits required under federal law.
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