House Bill Analysis

SSB 6310

Title:  AN ACT Relating to government accountability through the state sunset review process.

Brief Description:  Increasing government accountability through the state sunset review process.

Sponsor:  Senators Gardner and Horn.

Brief Summary

CExpands the entities that can be subjected to the sunset review process to include parts of the Revised Code of Washington.

CRequires entities subject to sunset review to develop and implement performance measures.

CSpecifies that the sunset review process must take at least seven years.

CChanges the sunset review process, including the factors that must be considered in a sunset review and the legislative hearings requirement.

CExtends the termination of the sunset review process to June 30, 2015.

House State Government Committee

Staff:  Jim Morishima  (786-7191).

Background:

The Legislature may schedule a program or agency to be terminated under the sunset review process.  The Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee (JLARC) must conduct a program and fiscal review of the program or entity scheduled for termination and prepare a preliminary report of its review by June 30 of the year prior to the termination date.  The factors the JLARC must use when conducting the review are specified by statute and vary depending on whether the entity being terminated is a regulatory entity.  After the JLARC completes the preliminary report, the Office of Financial Management (OFM) may then conduct its own review by September 30 of the same year.  The JLARC must transmit a copy of the final report to the Legislature, the Governor, the affected agency, and the State Library.

Subsequent to receipt of the final report, the appropriate standing committees in the House and Senate must hold hearings to consider the final report and any related data.  Following the hearing, the committees may propose legislation reestablishing, modifying, or transferring the functions of the program or agency.

If an agency is terminated under the sunset process, it continues its existence until June 30 of the next succeeding year.

The sunset review process expires on June 30, 2000.

Summary:

The entities that may be subject to the sunset review process are expanded.  The sunset review process can be applied to any "entity" which includes state offices, boards, commissions, units or sub-units, and agencies.  "Entity" also includes programs and activities involving less than the full responsibility of a state agency and parts of the Revised Code of Washington.

Unless provided otherwise, the sunset review process must take at least seven years.  An entity scheduled for sunset termination must develop performance measures subject to the approval of the JLARC.  The entity bears the burden of proving that it complied with its performance measures.

The JLARC may complete its review of the entity at any time during the calendar year prior to the entity's termination.  If the OFM issues a response to the JLARC review, the response must be included in the JLARC's final report, along with any response by the affected entity.  The factors that the JLARC must consider when reviewing an entity are changed, and no longer vary depending on whether the entity is a regulatory entity.  The new factors the JLARC must consider include the extent to which the entity is meeting its performance measures and the possible impact of the termination or modification of the entity.

The requirement that the standing committees of the Legislature hold hearings after the final report is completed is eliminated.

The termination date for the sunset review process is extended until June 30, 2015.

Rule Making Authority: No express authority.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date of Bill: Ninety days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is enacted.