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Legislative Report June 24, 2011 The legislature
adjourned its regular session on April 24 and started a special session on April
26. The legislature adjourned its special session on May 25. The
Legislative Report is a weekly report that is distributed each Friday
throughout the legislative session. Each edition includes an update of
legislative activities as well as a list of specific legislative meetings of
interest to ports. Copies of bills can be found on the Legislature’s web site
at www.leg.wa.gov. |
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INTRODUCTION
In January we
projected that the state would be facing a deficit of about $5 billion, and
with the passage of tax increases almost impossible, it would be likely that
many fee increases would be proposed to help offset program costs. In the end, the budget passed by the
legislature late in the first special session, cut approximately $4.5 billion,
and made no tax increases. Many fee
increases were considered, but none were adopted that would directly impact
ports in a substantial way.
The good news, if it
could be considered that, was that the legislature avoided complete raids of
programs like the Local Toxics program protecting funding for most remedial
action grant projects already in progress.
CERB was also kept on life-support with $5 million for the
biennium. In general, the legislature
did not utilize accounting gimmicks or account raids to balance the
budget. Instead, serious cuts were made
in higher education, some social programs, and education. State employees’ salaries were reduced by 3
percent, and reductions were made to K-12 employee salaries equaling $179
million.
WPPA policy
priorities met with mixed results as you can read about further along in this
report.
The Port Day on the
hill, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Port Act, was well attended,
very productive and culminated with a spectacular evening reception attended by
over 250 port folks, elected officials, legislators and legislative staff, who
heard Governor Gregoire congratulate ports on all the fine work we do.
Many Thanks to everyone who took
the time to help move the WPPA agenda during this session, the WPPA
Legislative Committee, particularly Chair, Gary Nelson, as well as port
commissioners and staff who took the time to come to Olympia and testify or
meet with legislators, or who contacted legislators on behalf of Washington
Public Ports.
WPPA LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES FOR
2011
Building
Infrastructure
·
CERB:
The Community Economic Revitalization Board was funded to the tune of $5
million for the 2011-13 biennium. This
was far short of the traditional $20 million that the WPPA would have liked,
but at least the program did not entirely disappear. The adopted Capital Budget which directed the
Department of Commerce to study the state’s infrastructure programs for
efficiencies and practical reform through the Public Works Board. CERB will be included in that discussion
throughout the interim, and CERB Chair, Mark Urdahl, Executive Director of the
Port of Chelan County, will be participating in that discussion along with WPPA
staff. Our goal will be to find a
permanent funding source for CERB.
·
Port Infrastructure Funding
Tools: The WPPA proposal to increase
Port IDD levy flexibility made good progress but fell short of being enacted
this session. The House Bill, SHB 1308,
made it to the House Ways & Means committee where it stalled. Meanwhile the Senate bill, SSB 5222 passed
out of the Senate 47 – 1, but it also was stalled in the House Ways & Means
Committee. WPPA will be working through
the interim to address the concerns of the W&M Chair so we can get the
proposal passed into law next session.
·
Transportation Infrastructure
Funding: Lacking even the ability to get
a small revenue package passed, the legislature did little to prepare for the
project funding crisis that the state will be facing in 2013. With all the current funding committed to
projects already in the works, there will be no funding for any future projects
without a revenue package next year. The
efforts at wholesale reform for the Ferry system couldn’t get off the ground
either. It continues to be funded
through temporary patches, and will have to be dealt with next year as well.
Cleaning
up the Environment
·
Stable, Predictable Funding for
Remedial Actions: The final budget included $63.8 million for remedial action
grants through the state Local Toxics Control Account. This success is the result of months of
advocacy at all levels of the ports community.
Ports worked with a large coalition that included municipalities and
private businesses to protect the fund from sweeps. Individual ports were absolutely diligent in
educating their local legislators and made multiple contacts at key points
during session.
Keeping
Public Agency Costs Down
·
Public Records Litigation Costs: The local government association coalition
proposal for providing an opportunity to meet and confer on public record
request disputes received a public hearing, but moved no further through the
process this session. There were
multiple proposals for records act modifications, and in the end, only one was
adopted by the legislature. The proposal
that was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Gregoire
eliminates the mandatory penalties for public record violations, replacing it
with a penalty range of 0 - $100 per violation.
·
Public Records Act Cost Recovery: No headway was made on the effort to allow
agencies to recover the costs of complying with the Public Records Act, this
session. The coalition proposal did
receive a hearing and there was some interest in the proposal. A group of local government coalition and
other stakeholders will be meeting through the interim to see if a consensus
measure can be forwarded.
LEGISLATION PERTINENT TO PORTS
Budgets
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With a late burst
of bipartisan activity, the legislature finally reached agreement on several
key issues and passed an Operating Budget and a Capital budget on the last
day of the thirty-day Special Session. Agreement on reforms to the state’s
injured worker compensation program, coupled with a compromise on managing
the state’s debt limit, opened the way for passage of the budgets and
adjournment sine die. In the end, there
were no surprises in either of the budgets: the funding levels and cuts had
all been aired out and discussed for the past several months, and for the
most part the Senate and House just split the difference between their
earlier budgets. State workers and teachers took additional pay cuts, tuition
will rise at colleges and universities, and social programs were pared back –
though few if any were eliminated. There was no significant restructuring or
reform of state government, though some administrative agencies and programs
were combined. Funding levels for
key programs such as CERB and cleanup grants were kept at the levels that
were reported in earlier budget proposals. While neither program is even
close to fully funded, they did receive enough funding to continue a
meaningful grant program next biennium. Continuing a trend
that is more and more common, several difficult issues were handed off to
task forces and study commissions. One of interest to ports is a directive to
the Public Works Board to make recommendations to reform the local infrastructure
assistance programs, including economic development. The Governor has also
announced that she will once again form a blue-ribbon group to address
transportation funding, and another blue-ribbon group will look at the
state’s debt limit. Olympia fabric stores are running low on blue ribbons. Despite long
discussions and many bill drafts, no agreement was ever reached on fee levels
for either hydraulic project approvals (HPAs) or water right permits.
Permittees wanted to see some program reforms accompany fees, and no
agreement on those reforms ever materialized – therefore neither did the
fees. Overall, port
districts fared rather well this session. We saw some policy disappointments,
but also some victories. Thank you again to all of you who came to Olympia
and who made calls and contacts on behalf of your port. This is a team
effort, and our successes couldn’t have happened without you.
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Economic Development
Expansion
of Prevailing Wage Requirements: Labor
interests did not put forward a proposal to expand prevailing wage requirements
this session. They had many other bigger
issues on their plate, including a reform of the workers compensation system
which demanded much of their time.
Infrastructure
Funding: There was a coalition of
business and local governments working on a true TIF program for the state,
however the proposal required a 2/3 majority vote for passage, and
constitutional change, and ultimately proved too controversial to receive
serious consideration. Other efforts
included one successful proposal that creates a pilot program for King,
Snohomish and Pierce Counties to allow local governments to create a Tax
Increment Financing tool to incentivize use of Transfer of Development Rights
from rural to urban areas.
Local Workforce
Requirements: Labor interests directed
their efforts to encourage use of local workers into a proposal that would
provide advantages to in-state contractors during the bid process. After significant changes, a workable measure
was passed. The new process will require
that the state’s Department of General Administration provide all public
entities with a list of all states that provide a percentage advantage for
their contractors, and when those contractors bid on projects in our state, we
will be required to add a corresponding penalty on their bid. 2SSB 5662 requires a survey by Department of
General Administration and a determination of necessary rule making along with
recommendations for any necessary statutory changes to the legislature for next
session prior to implementation.
Environment and
Natural Resources
Endangered
Species Act Agreements: Following
concerns that state resource agencies may not be adequately sharing the details
and substance of Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) proposals negotiated with the
federal government, state lawmakers introduced HB 1009. The bill would have required state agencies
to obtain explicit legislative approval before entering into an HCP agreement
with the federal government. Although an
amended version overwhelmingly passed out of the House, the bill died in the
Senate.
Hydraulic
Project Approval Reform: Despite much
discussion and marathon negotiations that lasted most of the special session,
the Legislature adjourned without reforming the state’s hydraulic permitting
process and without passing a controversial proposal that would have attached a
fee to hydraulic permits for the first time ever. Rather than implementing the controversial,
first-ever fee, legislators chose to continue funding the relatively modest
program through the state General Fund.
Natural
Resource Agency Consolidation: The Legislature adjourned without passing SB
5669, a bill that would have consolidated administrative functions at seven
state resource agencies. Although this
scaled-down consolidation effort passed out of the Senate 27-19 during the
special session, it stalled in the House.
The bill would have allegedly created a $2.3 million cost savings in the
coming biennium, but was less ambitious than previous proposals which offered
the consolidation of entire agencies.
Despite much discussion in recent years about the idea of resource
agency consolidation, achievement in this area has been modest.
Oil
Spill Prevention: Following the Deepwater Horizon disaster last summer
in the Gulf of Mexico, legislators once again focused on oil spill
prevention. HB 1186 sought to enhance
tank vessel contingency plans and create a state vessel of opportunity program
as tools to help avoid and then clean up any major oil spill. Sponsors of the bill worked with the maritime
community to minimize any effects this bill might have on discretionary
cargo. The bill passed both chambers and
was signed into law.
Governance
Commissioner Salary
Clarification: Port Commissioner Salary Indexing was clarified and, going
forward, commissioner base salaries and per diem salaries will be indexed by
the state’s Office of Financial Management every 5 years. The port gross operating revenue thresholds
for determining base salaries will not be indexed. HB 1225 was signed into law by the governor
on April 22 and will take effect July 22.
PRA
Statute of Limitations: The Attorney
General’s legislation to clarify the PRA Statute of Limitations was considered,
along with a host of other PRA related proposals, but failed to garner enough
support to move through the process.
PRA
Notice and Cure: This proposal, similar
to the local government coalition proposal to allow parties an opportunity to
meet and confer on Public Record Act request disputes, received a public
hearing, but was not moved through the process this year.
Office
of Open Records: Like the other Attorney
General Office proposals, this failed to receive consideration by the
legislature. In a budgetary climate
where programs are being cut, the time was probably not right for a proposal to
create a new agency.
Expanded
Telecommunications Authority: Retail telecommunications authority for Ports and
PUD’s was introduced again this session but was strongly opposed by the private
telecom providers. It did not move out
of the policy committee.
Marinas
Boating
Facility Grants: Concerned by past
budgets that swept dedicated boating facility grants into the state General
Fund, a coalition of ports and recreational user groups worked this year to
preserve boating facility grants. The
effort was largely responsible for the preservation of $8 million in funding
that will be used to help fund boat ramps and other related facilities.
Copper
Bottom Paint: Ports with boatyards could
benefit from passage of SB 5436, which will phase out of the use of copper
bottom paint. Following the belief that
trace amounts of copper may be harmful to fish, existing state regulation imposes
extremely low limits on copper effluent in boatyard stormwater. The gradual phasing out of copper in bottom
paint (as described in the bill) is expected to relieve boatyard owners from
the burden of singlehandedly reducing overall copper levels in the marine
environment.
Derelict
Vessels: Ports with marinas will benefit
from passage of SB 5271, which will reduce problems associated with abandoned
and derelict vessels. Specifically, the
bill does the following: increases the reimbursement rate ports receive for
removals from 75 to 90 percent; creates a misdemeanor charge for people who
intentionally allow their vessel to sink without authorization; and, limits
liability for ports and others when they remove a derelict or abandoned vessel.
Taxes
City
Street Utility Authority: The proposal
to allow cities to impose a city street utility tax was introduced again this
year with little success. The proposal
was almost identical to the previous year’s proposal, with only the addition of
a requirement that a city would have to allow a vote of their citizens in order
to impose the tax. The proposal, HB 1929
did move out of the House Transportation Committee on a party line vote, but
the bill moved no further.
Transportation
Freight
Mobility Board Consolidation: Despite
early discussions by the Governor’s office to merge FMSB into WSDOT, no bill
emerged during the session.
Water
Water
Rights Certainty: Relinquishment became
a key ports issue this year with introduction of a good little bill that sought
to treat certain port water rights more like municipal water rights, which are
exempt from relinquishment. Although HB
1314 passed unanimously out of committee and made it through Rules, tribal
concerns stopped the bill in its tracks when it moved to the House floor. Other relinquishment bills suffered similar
fates, but the issue remained alive in discussions of an omnibus water rights
reform/fee bill which also died late in the special session. And so it goes in the ever divisive world of
state water policy.