Background:

Airports nationwide are categorized by type of activities. The categories include commercial service, primary, cargo service, reliever, and general aviation airports.

Commercial service airports are publicly owned airports that have at least 2,500 passenger boardings each calendar year and receive scheduled passenger service. Passenger boardings refer to revenue passenger boardings on an aircraft in service in air commerce, whether or not in scheduled service. There are two subcategories of commercial service airports:

Primary airports are commercial service airports that have more than 10,000 passenger boardings each year. Hub categories for primary airports are defined as a percentage of total passenger boardings within the United States in the most current calendar year ending before the start of the current federal fiscal year, as follows:
- large hub airports have 1 percent or more of total United States passenger boardings;
- medium hub airports have at least 0.25 percent but less than 1 percent of total United States passenger boardings;
- small hub airports have at least 0.05 percent but less than 0.25 percent of total United States passenger boardings; and
- nonhub airports have more than 10,000 passenger boardings but less than 0.05 percent of total United States passenger boardings.
Nonprimary airports are commercial service airports that have at least 2,500 and no more than 10,000 passenger boardings each year.

The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of United States aviation infrastructure assets and contains a listing of all commercial service airports. According to the NPIAS updated in October 2018, Washington has 10 primary airports: one is a large hub, two are small hubs, and seven are nonhubs. Washington also has one nonprimary commercial service airport.

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Summary of Substitute Bill:

The Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission (Commission) is created and shall consist of 16 voting members and at least seven nonvoting members. Eleven of the voting members must be appointed by the Governor to represent the following interests:

four representatives of commercial service airports and ports, in the following manner:
- one representative from a port located in a county with a population of 2 million or more;
- one representative from a port in Eastern Washington with an airport runway of at least 13,500 feet in length;
- one representative from a commercial service airport in Eastern Washington located in a county with a population of 400,000 or more; and
- one representative from an association of ports;
three representatives from the airline industry and the private sector;
one representative from an Eastern Washington metropolitan planning organization;
one representative from a Western Washington metropolitan planning organization; and
two citizen representatives, with one appointed from Eastern Washington and one appointed from Western Washington. The citizen appointees must:
- represent the public interests in the communities that are included in the Commission's site research; and
- understand the impacts of a large commercial aviation facility on a community.

The remaining five voting members shall consist of:

one representative from the Department of Commerce;
one representative from the Washington State Department of Transportation's (WSDOT) Aviation Division;
the Governor or the Governor's designee;
one representative from the freight forwarding industry; and
one representative from the trucking industry.

The seven required nonvoting members must be:

one representative from the FAA;
one representative from the Washington State Aviation Alliance;
one representative from the Department of Defense (DOD);
two members from the Senate, with one member from each of the two largest caucuses in the Senate, appointed by the President of the Senate; and
two members from the House of Representatives, with one member from each of the two largest caucuses in the House of Representatives, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Governor may appoint additional nonvoting members as deemed appropriate. The Commission shall select a chair from among its membership. The WSDOT shall provide staff support for coordinating and administering the Commission and technical assistance. The Governor or the Governor's designee shall convene the initial meeting of the Commission as soon as practicable.

The Commission's work must include:

recommendations to the Legislature on future Washington long-range commercial aviation facility needs;
the identification of a preferred location for a new commercial aviation facility; and
the creation of a timeline for the development of an additional commercial aviation facility that is completed and functional by 2040.

When assessing future long-term commercial aviation facility needs, the Commission's recommendations must be consistent with the WSDOT's Long-term Air Transportation Study. The option for a new primary commercial aviation facility may include the expansion of an existing airport facility. The Commission shall select the single preferred location by a two-thirds majority vote using the following process:

initiating a broad review of potential sites;
recommending a short list of no more than six locations by January 1, 2020;
identifying the top two locations by September 1, 2020; and
identifying a single preferred location by January 1, 2021.

The Commission shall submit findings and recommendations to the transportation commissions of the Legislature by January 1, 2021.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:

The substitute bill:

states that an option for a new primary commercial aviation facility may include the expansion of an existing airport facility;
increases the Commission's membership from 13 voting members and two required nonvoting members to 16 voting members and seven required nonvoting members;
makes changes to the Commission's voting membership by:
- including representation from: (1) an Eastern Washington port with an airport runway of at least 13,500 feet in length; (2) a commercial service airport in Eastern Washington located in a county with a population of 400,000 or more; (3) citizens at large; (4) the freight forwarding industry; and (5) the trucking industry; and
- removing representation from the Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board;
makes changes to the Commission's nonvoting membership by including representation from: (1) the DOD; (2) one member from each of the two largest caucuses in the Senate; and (3) one member from each of the two largest caucuses in the House of Representatives;
specifies that for each location under consideration for a new commercial aviation facility, the Commission's research must include the feasibility of constructing a commercial aviation facility in that location and its potential environmental, community, and economic impacts;
requires that the identification of a preferred location for a new primary commercial aviation facility is to be determined by a two-thirds majority vote rather than a simple majority;
requires the Commission's recommendations to be consistent with the WSDOT's Long-term Air Transportation Study;
prevents anything in the act from endorsing, limiting, or altering existing or future plans for capital development and capacity enhancement at existing commercial airports; and
makes minor technical corrections.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony:

(In support) In 2009 a study was conducted regarding an additional airport in the state. The study indicated that by 2030, there will be an estimated 31 million passengers annually going through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SeaTac). In 2018 nearly 50 million passengers went through SeaTac, reflecting a 6.2-percent increase over passenger data for 2017. By 2034 the growth is expected to reach 66 million passengers. SeaTac is one of the fastest growing airports in the country, with increases in passenger boardings and increases in air cargo. While the economy and industry of the airport are growing, there is a finite footprint for the airport in terms of both land space and airspace.

Siting a new airport is one of the most significant priorities for many cities, especially around the SeaTac area. Additionally, the South County Area Transportation Board has endorsed the formation of a committee to plan for the siting of a second regional airport. This bill is good public policy; it provides rational planning for a need that is quickly advancing. Washington has one of the most robust economies in the nation, and with that comes increased air traffic. It is highly important to plan for the future of air travel in Washington to prevent even worse bottlenecks in air traffic in the future. Cities near SeaTac suffer disproportionate impacts from aircraft operations in the area. This imbalance must be addressed through the siting process. Most metropolitan areas the size of Seattle and the surrounding cities have multiple options for commercial air travel.

This bill is elegantly simplistic in that it accomplishes three things: (1) establishes a new commission; (2) picks a site for a new airport; and (3) gets it done by 2021. The economic impacts this bill can create would be statewide and no longer focused on a specific location, like what has occurred around the SeaTac area in the past. The trove of economic development data at SeaTac demonstrates the concrete measurable value that a new airport will have in another Washington region. SeaTac airport supports more than 87,000 jobs directly related to the airport and has also created $442 million in state and local taxes. The announcement of a new airport will spark robust competition for the economic development that will follow the establishment of an airport. With this competition, the state will see creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and much better ideas about how the entire state can become more competitive nationally and globally.

SeaTac has claimed for many decades and will continue to claim that the airport is able to handle and support all of the needs for both passenger and cargo service for the region into the immediate future. This tactic will be used to prevent the siting of a second airport. With the previous expansion of SeaTac came cost overruns, noise, and pollution to the surrounding area, and an anticompetitive situation which costs the state unnecessary money to benefit only the Port of Seattle. A second airport is needed to provide the best competitive field and the best economic plan for the entire state.

The provisions set out in the bill to guide the Commission's work are good, and the deadlines for providing options are realistic. However, there are some things to consider adding to the bill, such as clarifying that a place with an existing airport could be considered as a location option, making sure that the current capital investment plan in place at SeaTac is not affected by the provisions of this bill, and allowing the Port of Moses Lake to be listed as one of the representatives of ports required in the Commission.

(Opposed) None.

(Other) The WSDOT is ready and willing to participate in the Commission as established in the bill, with one recommendation. The timeline in the bill could benefit from a modest extension to June 2021 in order to take advantage of the information that will be acquired in the Puget Sound Regional Council's Regional Aviation Baseline Study.