H-2200              _______________________________________________

                                           SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 537

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By House Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Representatives Schmidt, Zellinsky, Brough, Sayan, Schoon, Meyers, May, P. King and Pruitt)

Read first time 3/4/87 and passed to Committee on Rules. By Resolution, returned to House 4/26/87; reintroduced 1/11/88; Rules Committee referred to Committee on Transportation 1/12/88.

AN ACT Relating to the Washington state ferries; and amending RCW 47.60.310.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 47.60.310, chapter 13, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 24, chapter 15, Laws of 1983 and RCW 47.60.310 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) The department is further directed to conduct such review by soliciting and obtaining expressions from local community groups in order to be properly informed as to problems being experienced within the area served by the Washington state ferries.  In order that local representation may be established, the department shall give prior notice of the review to the legislative authority of Clallam, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, and Snohomish counties.

          (2) ((Each such county legislative authority shall appoint a committee to consist of five members to serve as an advisory committee to the department or its designated representative in such review.

          (3) The members of each county ferry advisory committee shall be appointed for four-year terms.  The initial terms shall commence on July 1, 1982, and end on June 30, 1986.  Any vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by the appointing authority  At least one person appointed to each advisory committee shall be representative of an established ferry-user group or of frequent users of the ferry system, at least one shall be representative of persons or firms using or depending upon the ferry system for commerce, and one member shall be representative of a local government transportation planning body or its staff.  Every member shall be a resident of the county upon whose advisory committee he or she sits, and not more than three members shall at the time of their appointment be members of the same major political party.

          (4) The committees to be appointed by the county legislative authorities shall serve without fee or compensation.))  The governor shall appoint regional ferry advisory committees to serve as advisory committees to the department or its designated representative in reviews under subsection (1) of this section.  The committees shall consist of three members who are representative of users of the ferry terminals located at Anacortes, Bremerton, Edmonds, Kingston, Mukilteo, Port Townsend, Seattle, Southworth, Vashon Island, Whidbey Island, and Winslow.  The governor shall appoint five members to the committee representing the San Juan Islands, consisting of one member each for Lopez Island, Shaw Island, Orcas Island, and San Juan Island and one member at-large from the San Juan Islands.  The committees shall report periodically to the governor and the department of transportation on current provisions in law plus specific recommendations by route.

(3) The members of each committee shall be appointed for four-year terms.  The initial terms of the members of each committee shall be staggered as follows:  All terms shall commence July 1, 1987, with one member's term expiring June 30, 1989, one member's term expiring June 30, 1990, and the remaining member's term expiring June 30, 1991.  Any vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by the governor.  At least one person appointed to each regional ferry advisory committee shall be representative of an established ferry user group or of frequent users of the ferry system.  Every member shall reside in the vicinity of the terminal which the regional ferry advisory committee represents and not more than two members shall at the time of their appointment be members of the same political party.  No more than three members of the San Juan Islands regional ferry advisory committee may at the time of their appointment be members of the same political party.

(4) The committees to be appointed by the governor shall serve without fee or compensation.