FINAL BILL REPORT

SHB 1010

C 47 L 17

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Directing the department of ecology to submit an annual report to the legislature detailing the department's participation in interagency agreements.

Sponsors: House Committee on Environment (originally sponsored by Representatives Shea, Taylor, Holy, Short, McCaslin, Pike, Haler and Young).

House Committee on Environment

Senate Committee on Energy, Environment & Telecommunications

Background:

The Department of Ecology (ECY) is the state agency charged with managing air and water resources, and with controlling air, water, and other types of environmental pollution. The ECY's authority to pursue these goals derives from a variety of state laws that grant specific responsibility to the ECY. The ECY's authority and responsibility to control air, water, or land pollution under state laws is often situated within the context of federal environmental laws that reserve states the option to assume certain implementation responsibilities. Federal laws that establish this type of framework include the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Furthermore, the frameworks established by federal and state environmental laws often authorize or require local governments such as counties, cities, and special purpose districts to implement aspects of environmental programs that also include an administrative role for the ECY.

The ECY is broadly directed to cooperate with the federal government and other state governments in studying and controlling environmental problems. Many specific state environmental laws also direct the ECY to:

• enter into agreements to assume certain responsibilities authorized by specific federal environmental laws;

• partner or consult with other state agencies such as the Department of Health, the Department of Natural Resources, or the Department of Fish and Wildlife in implementing state environmental laws; or

• oversee the implementation of state environmental laws by counties, cities, or special purpose districts.

Summary:

Beginning December 31, 2017, the Department of Ecology (ECY) is directed to post information on its website regarding the interagency agreements involving the ECY as a party or a participant. The types of interagency agreements that must be included on the website include memoranda of understanding, grant contracts, and advisory agreements. The information posted on the website must cover agreements with federal agencies, local governments, other state agencies, and state agencies in other states, and must include:

• a brief description of each agreement;

• the effective date of the agreement;

• the parties to the agreement; and

• the type of agreement.

The requirement to provide this information on the ECY's website is phased in, beginning with an initial list of grants and federal agreements where information is readily extractable from the ECY's data systems, which must be posted by December 31, 2017. All contract, grant, and loan agreements must be posted by June 30, 2018, with the remainder of interagency agreements posted by December 31, 2018. Beginning in December 2018, the ECY must annually update the posted interagency agreement information and must identify agreements updated during the past year.

Votes on Final Passage: