"NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature implemented a policy of allowing regional entities to propose ballot measures to fund state highways by creating a regional transportation investment district in 2002. After years of costly delay, a joint ballot measure was proposed to the voters to fund state highways and transit by regional taxation in central Puget Sound in November 2007, and it was rejected.
     The legislature acknowledges that it has historically been the responsibility of the state to prioritize and fund the costs of repairs, replacement, and construction of state transportation facilities. However, the state continues to be challenged by increasing demands for transportation projects that address safety, maintenance, and congestion issues. The ongoing and significant rise in construction and fuel costs, combined with projected declines in state and federal resources, has prompted local leaders to consider implementing local and regional financing tools to help fund construction of state and local transportation facilities located within their jurisdictions.
     It is therefore the intent of the legislature to determine whether regional financing of state-owned transportation projects and facilities can be successfully implemented by regional transportation investment districts, including whether such existing tools should be temporarily suspended or permanently repealed and whether other financing tools should be provided to local jurisdictions.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 36.120 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The joint transportation committee shall conduct a study that analyzes regional financing of state-owned facilities by regional transportation investment districts. The study shall include, but is not limited to, an analysis of the following issues:
     (a) The effects that a voter-approved regional finance plan for a specific set of transportation projects may have on future statewide transportation investments;
     (b) The additional cost to individuals living within a regional transportation investment district, in excess of the baseline costs such individuals pay for transportation infrastructure across the state, for state highways within the district;
     (c) A comparison of the additional cost identified in (b) of this subsection to the cost of a statewide transportation revenue proposal containing funding for the same set of projects and other high priority statewide projects; and
     (d) The feasibility of and stakeholder interest level in:
     (i) Eliminating the authority to establish regional transportation investment districts temporarily or permanently; and
     (ii) Creating similar special purpose districts statewide or expanding the authority of existing similar special purpose districts statewide including, but not limited to, transportation benefit districts authorized under chapter 36.73 RCW.
     (2) In conducting the study identified in subsection (1) of this section, the joint transportation committee must consult with appropriate local and regional stakeholders, including applicable counties, cities, transit agencies, and regional transportation planning organizations. The committee shall submit a final report, including recommendations, to the transportation committees of the legislature and the governor by December 1, 2008.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   Funding for the study described in section 2 of this act shall be provided from unexpended funding previously provided to the joint transportation committee for an analysis of implementing governance in central Puget Sound in the 2007 transportation appropriations act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act expires January 1, 2010."