S-1205

AN ACT Relating to the permit assistance center; amending RCW 90.60.010, 90.60.020, 90.60.030, and 90.60.100; repealing RCW 43.131.387 and 43.131.388; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 90.60.010 and 1995 c 347 s 601 are each amended to read as follows:

The legislature hereby finds and declares:

(1) Washington's environmental protection programs have established strict standards to reduce pollution and protect the public health and safety and the environment. The single-purpose programs instituted to achieve these standards have been successful in many respects, and have produced significant gains in protecting Washington's environment in the face of substantial population growth.

(2) Continued progress to achieve the environmental standards in the face of continued population growth will require greater coordination between the single-purpose environmental programs and more efficient operation of these programs overall. Pollution must be prevented and controlled and not simply transferred to another media or another place. This goal can only be achieved by maintaining the current environmental protection standards and by greater integration of the existing programs.

(3) As the number of environmental laws and regulations have grown in Washington, so have the number of permits required of business and government. This regulatory burden has significantly added to the cost and time needed to obtain essential permits in Washington. The increasing number of individual permits and permit authorities has generated the continuing potential for conflict, overlap, and duplication between the various state, local, and federal permits.

(4) The purpose of this chapter is to institute new, efficient procedures that will assist businesses and public agencies in complying with the environmental quality laws in an expedited fashion, without reducing protection of public health and safety and the environment.

(5) Those procedures need to provide a permit process that promotes effective dialogue and ensures ease in the transfer and clarification of technical information, while preventing duplication. It is necessary that the procedures establish a process for preliminary and ongoing meetings between the applicant, the coordinating permit agency, and the participating permit agencies, but do not preclude the applicant or participating permit agencies from individually coordinating with each other.

(6) It is necessary, to the maximum extent practicable, that the procedures established in this chapter ensure that the coordinated permit agency process and applicable permit requirements and criteria are integrated and run concurrently, rather than consecutively.

(7) It is necessary to provide a reliable and consolidated source of information concerning federal, state, and local environmental and land use laws and procedures that apply to any given proposal.

(8) It is the intent of this chapter to provide an optional process by which a project proponent may obtain active coordination of all applicable regulatory and land-use permitting procedures. This process is not to replace individual laws, or diminish the substantive decision-making role of individual jurisdictions. Rather it is to provide predictability, administrative consolidation, and, where possible, consolidation of appeal processes.

(9) It is also the intent of this chapter ((~~to provide~~)) that by providing an optional coordinated permit process, measures are taken by the parties that promote the public's trust and confidence in the underlying permit process, including providing consolidated, effective, and easier opportunities for members of the public to receive information and present their views about proposed projects.

Sec. 2. RCW 90.60.020 and 1995 c 347 s 602 are each amended to read as follows:

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Center" means the permit assistance center established in the ((~~commission [department]~~)) department by RCW 90.60.030.

(2) "Coordinating permit agency" means the permit agency that has the greatest overall jurisdiction over a project.

(3) "Department" means the department of ecology.

(4) "Participating permit agency" means a permit agency, other than the coordinating permit agency, that is responsible for the issuance of a permit for a project.

(5) "Parties" collectively means the coordinating permit agency, permit agency, and participating permit agency.

(6) "Permit" means any license, certificate, registration, permit, or other form of authorization required by a permit agency to engage in a particular activity.

((~~(6)~~)) (7) "Permit agency" means:

(a) The department of ecology, an air pollution control authority, the department of natural resources, the department of fish and wildlife, and the department of health; and

(b) Any other state or federal agency or county, city, or town that participates at the request of the permit applicant and upon the agency's agreement to be subject to this chapter.

((~~(7)~~)) (8) "Project" means an activity, the conduct of which requires permits from one or more permit agencies.

(9) "Small project" means a project for which the applicants do not enter into a cost reimbursement agreement as authorized by RCW 90.60.100, and the project:

(a) Will require fewer than five permits from the state permit agencies;

(b) Will employ fewer than twenty-five persons; or

Sec. 3. RCW 90.60.030 and 1997 c 429 s 35 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The permit assistance center is established within the department. The center shall:

((~~(1)~~)) (a) Publish and keep current one or more handbooks containing lists and explanations of all permit laws. To the extent possible, the handbook shall include relevant federal and tribal laws. A state agency or local government shall provide a reasonable number of copies of application forms, statutes, ordinances, rules, handbooks, and other informational material requested by the center and shall otherwise fully cooperate with the center. The center shall seek the cooperation of relevant federal agencies and tribal governments;

((~~(2)~~)) (b) Establish, and make known, a point of contact for distribution of the handbook and advice to the public as to its interpretation in any given case;

((~~(3)~~)) (c) Work closely and cooperatively with the business license center in providing efficient and nonduplicative service to the public;

((~~(4)~~)) (d) Seek the assignment of employees from the permit agencies ((~~listed under RCW 90.60.020(6)(a)~~)) as defined in this chapter to serve on a rotating basis in staffing the center;

((~~(5)~~)) (e) Collect and disseminate information to public and private entities on federal, state, local, and tribal government programs that rely on private professional expertise to assist governmental agencies in project permit review; and

((~~(6)~~)) (f) Provide ((~~an annual~~)) a biennial report to the legislature ((on potential conflicts and perceived inconsistencies among existing statutes. The first report shall be submitted to the appropriate standing committees of the house of representatives and senate by December 1, 1996.)) that includes:

(i) Statutory and other recommendations for streamlining and coordinating environmental permitting in Washington;

(ii) Summarizes the results of the center's efforts to measure performance and outcomes over time;

(iii) Summarizes, evaluates, and makes statutory and other recommendations for improving the center's and permitting agencies' efforts to provide public notice efficiently and for promoting effective public participation in permitting processes;

(iv) Details efforts on the part of the center, the department, and the parties to promote the public's trust and confidence in the permitting process. Examples of such efforts include, but are not limited to, the development of statutory and other policies and procedures, guidance, roles, and responsibilities; and

(v) Shows revenues generated by the center's services, and the center's budget and expenditures.

(2) The department shall prioritize the expenditure of general fund moneys allotted to the center to provide a set of services to the applicants of small projects.

Sec. 4. RCW 90.60.100 and 1995 c 347 s 610 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The ((~~coordinating permit agency~~)) parties may enter into a written cost-reimbursement agreement with the applicant to recover from the applicant the reasonable costs incurred by the ((~~coordinating permit agency~~)) parties in carrying out the requirements of this chapter, as well as the requirements of other relevant laws, as they relate to permit coordination, environmental review, application review, technical studies, and permit processing.

(2) The ((~~coordinating permit agency may recover only the costs of performing those coordinated permit services and~~)) written cost-reimbursement agreement shall be negotiated with the permit applicant ((in)) following the meeting required pursuant to RCW 90.60.070. Permit agencies may assign work to current staff, temporary staff, or technical consultants in order to carry out the work covered by the written cost-reimbursement agreement or the work remaining for the permit agency as a result of the coordinated permit process. The billing process shall provide for accurate time and cost accounting and may include a billing cycle that provides for progress payments.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:

(1) RCW 43.131.387 (Permit assistance center--Termination) and 1995 c 347 s 617; and

(2) RCW 43.131.388 (Permit assistance center--Repeal) and 1995 c 347 s 618.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Section 5 of this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect June 29, 1999.