BILL REQ. #:  S-2081.1 

Read first time 02/23/2007.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to rail and freight infrastructure; amending RCW 47.06A.020 and 47.06A.040; and adding a new chapter to Title 81 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the economic vitality of Washington state requires robust rail and freight systems capable of providing its businesses, ports, and agricultural producers with competitive access to domestic and international markets. The legislature further finds that a carefully planned program of state investments in rail and freight infrastructure will allow Washington state to realize important public benefits, including increased safety and economic growth. To the extent that state funds are used to improve rail infrastructure, the legislature declares that it is the policy of the state of Washington to examine the cost of any rail infrastructure improvement as compared to the public benefits to be gained by making the improvement according to the following priorities, in order of relative importance: (1) Economic, safety, or environmental advantages of freight movement by rail compared to alternative modes; (2) self-sustaining economic development that creates family-wage jobs; (3) preservation of transportation corridors that would otherwise be lost; (4) increased access to efficient and cost-effective transport to market for Washington's agricultural and industrial products; (5) better integration and cooperation within the regional, national, and international systems of freight distribution; and (6) mitigation of impacts of increased rail traffic on communities. In all cases, state investment in rail infrastructure should be allocated to leverage the greatest amount of partnership funding possible, and should only be considered when there is a demonstrably lower likelihood of obtaining the benefits specified in this section without at least some state funding of the infrastructure improvement.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1) The department of transportation shall plan and coordinate the state's investment in the preservation and improvement of rail infrastructure and the rail transportation system. In executing its duties under this chapter, the department shall carefully consider the recommendations that the transportation commission shall, from time to time, but at least annually by August 1st, make in writing to the department. The department shall promptly and diligently furnish information that the transportation commission or the transportation committees of the house of representatives or senate may request relating to the rail transportation system or the rail infrastructure actions and projects plan described in section 3 of this act.
     (2) The freight mobility strategic investment board created in RCW 47.06A.030 becomes a division within the department of transportation on December 1, 2007.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The department of transportation shall identify rail infrastructure needs that could be addressed through the state's financial or other participation. The department shall consider possible types of state participation to address a rail infrastructure need, and shall analyze reasonable possibilities according to priorities identified in section 1 of this act using the benefit/impact evaluation methodology developed as part of the statewide rail capacity and needs study finalized in December 2006. Based upon the benefit/impact analysis, the department shall develop and sequence a plan of actions and projects in which the state should participate. The rail infrastructure actions and projects plan must include an explanation of the analysis undertaken, and the conclusions derived from the analysis, for actions and projects recommended for state participation, as well as those actions and projects considered, but not recommended. The department shall update and report the plan to the transportation commission and the transportation committees of the house of representatives and senate by October 1st each year. The department shall monitor any circumstance with a foreseeable impact on the plan, and advise the transportation committees of the house of representatives and senate by February 15th each year regarding any changed circumstances that affect the plan.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   By November 15th each year, the transportation commission shall report to the transportation committees of the house of representatives and senate the commission's concurrence or disagreement with the advisability of the actions and projects recommended by the department of transportation in the plan developed by the department under section 3 of this act. The commission shall base its determinations on the priorities identified in section 1 of this act, and an evaluation of each action or project according to the methodology developed as part of the statewide rail capacity and needs study finalized in December 2006. If the commission finds that certain actions or projects do not appear within the department's plan, but warrant consideration, then the commission shall report its own analysis of the action or project to the transportation committees of the house of representatives and senate.

Sec. 5   RCW 47.06A.020 and 2005 c 319 s 125 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The board shall:
     (a) Adopt rules and procedures necessary to implement the freight mobility strategic investment program;
     (b) Solicit from public entities proposed projects that meet eligibility criteria established in accordance with subsection (4) of this section; and
     (c) Review and evaluate project applications based on criteria established under this section, and prioritize and select projects comprising a portfolio to be funded in part with grants from state funds appropriated for the freight mobility strategic investment program. In determining the appropriate level of state funding for a project, the board shall ensure that state funds are allocated to leverage the greatest amount of partnership funding possible. After selecting projects comprising the portfolio, the board shall submit them ((as part of its budget request to the office of financial management and the legislature)) to the secretary of the department of transportation and the transportation commission. The board shall ensure that projects submitted as part of the portfolio are not more appropriately funded with other federal, state, or local government funding mechanisms or programs. The board shall reject those projects that appear to improve overall general mobility with limited enhancement for freight mobility.
     ((The board shall provide periodic progress reports on its activities to the office of financial management and the senate and house transportation committees.))
     (2) The board may:
     (a) Accept from any state or federal agency, loans or grants for the financing of any transportation project and enter into agreements with any such agency concerning the loans or grants;
     (b) Provide technical assistance to project applicants;
     (c) Accept any gifts, grants, or loans of funds, property, or financial, or other aid in any form from any other source on any terms and conditions which are not in conflict with this chapter;
     (d) Adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW as necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter; and
     (e) Do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers expressly granted or implied under this chapter.
     (3) The board shall designate strategic freight corridors within the state. The board shall update the list of designated strategic corridors not less than every two years, and shall establish a method of collecting and verifying data, including information on city and county-owned roadways.
     (4) The board shall utilize threshold project eligibility criteria that, at a minimum, includes the following:
     (a) The project must be on a strategic freight corridor;
     (b) The project must meet one of the following conditions:
     (i) It is primarily aimed at reducing identified barriers to freight movement with only incidental benefits to general or personal mobility; or
     (ii) It is primarily aimed at increasing capacity for the movement of freight with only incidental benefits to general or personal mobility; or
     (iii) It is primarily aimed at mitigating the impact on communities of increasing freight movement, including roadway/railway conflicts; and
     (c) The project must have a total public benefit/total public cost ratio of equal to or greater than one.
     (5) From June 11, 1998, through the biennium ending June 30, 2001, the board shall use the multicriteria analysis and scoring framework for evaluating and ranking eligible freight mobility and freight mitigation projects developed by the freight mobility project prioritization committee and contained in the January 16, 1998, report entitled "Project Eligibility, Priority and Selection Process for a Strategic Freight Investment Program." The prioritization process shall measure the degree to which projects address important program objectives and shall generate a project score that reflects a project's priority compared to other projects. The board shall assign scoring points to each criterion that indicate the relative importance of the criterion in the overall determination of project priority. After June 30, 2001, the board may supplement and refine the initial project priority criteria and scoring framework developed by the freight mobility project prioritization committee as expertise and experience is gained in administering the freight mobility program.
     (6) It is the intent of the legislature that each freight mobility project contained in the project portfolio submitted by the board utilize the greatest amount of nonstate funding possible. The board shall adopt rules that give preference to projects that contain the greatest levels of financial participation from nonprogram fund sources. The board shall consider twenty percent as the minimum partnership contribution, but shall also ensure that there are provisions allowing exceptions for projects that are located in areas where minimal local funding capacity exists or where the magnitude of the project makes the adopted partnership contribution financially unfeasible.
     (7) The board shall develop and recommend policies that address operational improvements that primarily benefit and enhance freight movement, including, but not limited to, policies that reduce congestion in truck lanes at border crossings and weigh stations and provide for access to ports during nonpeak hours.

Sec. 6   RCW 47.06A.040 and 1999 c 216 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     ((The board, at its option, may either appoint an executive director, who shall serve at its pleasure and whose salary shall be set by the board or make provisions ensuring the responsibilities of the executive director are carried out by an existing transportation-related state agency or by private contract.)) Staff support to the board shall be provided by the department of transportation, the transportation improvement board, and the county road administration board, or their successor agencies.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   Sections 1 through 4 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 81 RCW.