Washington Public Ports Association

 

 

Legislative Agenda 2011

 

 

WPPA Annual Meeting

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Hotel Murano, Tacoma WA

9:30 a.m.

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The 2011 session will present fiscal challenges beyond anything the legislature has seen in modern history.  As a result of the recession, this past biennium required filling a $12 billion hole in the state’s general fund budget.  Some of it was made up with one-time bail-out money from the federal government, some from raiding various trust accounts, and some from selective tax and fee increases. 

The 2011 session arrives in January, and the legislature must adopt a two-year budget by June 30th.  Once again, the state is facing a major deficit of perhaps another $5 billion, or more.  This time, no money is likely from the federal government and the dedicated accounts don’t have much (if anything) left to give.  The passage of I-1053 will make it difficult, if not impossible, for the legislature to raise taxes, and many fee increases will be proposed in an effort to offset agency costs.  The legislature will be facing some very tough choices, and at a minimum, deep cuts to social services are likely.

WPPA continues to focus on strategically targeting policies and investments that will help grow private sector businesses and jobs, strengthening the state’s economy as a whole. Keeping our ports healthy, and providing us with the tools to incent the private investment necessary to rebuild our economy will go a long way toward bringing back economic prosperity to our state.

 

PRIORITIES

 

Building Infrastructure

·        CERB (Community Economic Revitalization Board) funding must be continued in some form, whether through the traditional program or through a new iteration. WPPA will support efforts to provide $20 million in funds out of the state’s capital budget specifically for economic development infrastructure investment.  Criteria for awarding funding should allow for adequate flexibility and should focus the ability to leverage private sector investment and job creation.

 

·        With state funding difficult to come by, ports must better utilize current funding mechanisms in order to build necessary infrastructure. Providing additional flexibility to current IDD levy financing tools will provide more opportunities for ports to fund infrastructure projects themselves.  WPPA will work for passage of legislation that will allow ports to use smaller portions of their IDD levy capacity on specific projects over extended periods of time without forfeiting their remaining capacity, while maintaining the current level of taxing authority.

 

·        Transportation Infrastructure Funding is facing a crisis very soon. As need grows and funding shrinks, state and local governments must strategically prioritize projects, and come up with innovative new ways to fund those projects. WPPA will work to ensure that the state prioritizes strategic freight mobility projects, including rail.

Cleaning Up the Environment

·        Stable predictable funding for remedial actions continues to be a primary concern for ports.  During the last biennium we enjoyed some success at preserving existing funds and maintaining the integrity of MTCA (Model Toxics Clean-up Act). WPPA will seek stable, robust MTCA funding in the 2011-13 biennial budget.

 

·        Providing additional funding stability and flexibility for remedial action projects is critical for long-term project planning purposes.  A financing report organized by WPPA and the State Department of Ecology last fall has given rise to the idea of grant funded trusts as a possible concept. WPPA will work towards development of grant funded trusts in order to create additional funding stability for future clean-up projects.  

Keeping Public Agency Costs Down

·        Providing an opportunity for requestors and agencies to clarify and resolve issues relating to public record requests prior to lawsuits being filed would save public agencies millions of taxpayer dollars in fines and court costs. WPPA will work for passage of legislation to allow public agencies and requestors to “meet and confer” prior to litigating public record request disputes.   

 

·        Being able to recover the research costs of extensive public records requests would save time and money. WPPA will work for passage of legislation that will limit free research time, and allow for some recovery of costs for public records requests.

 

 

ISSUES TO SUPPORT

 

 

Airfield Encroachment: WSDOT Aviation Division has been meeting with city and county planners on land use guidelines. It is unclear if a bill will be introduced, similar to last year’s, that would compel jurisdictions to adopt guidelines that prevent local governments from changing plans to accommodate incompatible uses. WPPA will support such legislation, should it be introduced.

Boating Grant Funds: Continuing budgetary uncertainty creates ongoing instability for dedicated funds (such as the Boating Facilities Program), which were raided during the last biennium. WPPA is already working with a coalition of organizations to defend boating grants, which provide important state matching funds for local boating-related projects such as launch ramps and support facilities.

Stabilize and Prioritize Infrastructure Funding:  Efforts of a stakeholder group led by the Department of Commerce and the Governor’s Office may lead to some proposals to help stabilize funding for basic infrastructure projects, as well as economic development infrastructure projects. WPPA will support efforts that will result in the state’s long-term commitment to strategic economic development related investment.

 

Export Initiatives:  Both state and federal initiatives may result in proposals for strategic investments into growing exports. WPPA will support efforts that provide additional funding to promote export growth in Washington state.

e-Records:  WPPA will support needed changes to  public records statute language to eliminate the need for public entities to retain social media in its “original format”.  A recent ruling from the State Supreme Court refers not only to “original format” but also references that records must be “identical” to the originals. This will significantly impact the state agencies as well as local governments.   

Commissioner Salary Clarification: The WPPA will seek legislation to clarify per diem salaries, and commissioner salaries are indexed to inflation.

Expanded Telecommunications Authority:  With recent changes in federal rules, school districts will be eligible to receive funding to lease dark fiber for improving schools’ communication systems. Currently ports do not have the authority to enter into these sorts of lease agreements with school districts and higher education institutions.   WPPA will support expansion of port authority to allow for this type of partnering with educational institutions.

Water Rights Certainty:  unlike other types of water rights, Washington protects municipal water rights from being relinquished if they are not used for five years.  Although ports are considered local governments, there is some question whether they are captured in the definition of “municipal” as applied to water rights.  Therefore, we will seek opportunities to clarify that ports are municipal water right holders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISSUES TO WATCH

 

Hydraulic Project Approval Reform:  For years the idea of charging fees for hydraulic permits has been proposed and rejected. However, continuing budgetary pressures are lending new currency to the notion of a more “self-sufficient” permitting system for in-water work. The fee idea will likely be bundled with policy ideas such as categorizing activities based on risk and eliminating permit requirements for low-risk activities, for example. Fish protection will continue to drive state agency perspectives. WPPA will be monitoring and analyzing impacts to ports of any fees that are proposed.   

Water Permits: Westerners have fought over water for hundreds of years, and the fight shows no sign of letting up next year. During the last session, legislators passed a study bill to explore ways of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Ecology’s water resources program, including the possibility of initiating fees to make the program more self-sustaining. As Ecology works through the study, interests on both sides of the issue are reloading to come back for the next round in this on-going feud. WPPA will watch for impacts to ports in any proposal put forward.      

City Street Utility Authority: Because nothing has changed to provide cities with additional funding for transportation projects, they are likely to pursue, once again, authority for a city street utility tax. WPPA supports more transportation funding tools provided they are structured in such a way as to ensure that funds provided by those entities that are moving freight are in fact being used for freight mobility projects. 

FMSIB/TIB Efficiency Study:  The study commissioned by the Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee will provide a report prior to the 2011 legislative session, with possible legislation for improving efficiencies in FMSIB/TIB/CRAB. The discussion seems to be centering on how to provide the current services more efficiently rather than whether or not to consolidate the three boards into one. There will likely be some legislation resulting from the report and WPPA will work to insure the current effectiveness of FMSIB (Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board). 

ADO Funding:  Discussions are starting to take place about possible cuts to accommodate the next biennial budget shortfall. ADO funding will likely be getting looked at closely. The arising questions center on whether the state is getting its biggest “bang for the buck” in the current ADO funding structure, or whether there could be a better use of those funds. WPPA encourages scrutinizing funding to determine where limited resources should be directed.

Expansion of Prevailing Wage Requirements:  Likely to be on labor’s list of issues for the legislative session, is expansion of prevailing wage requirements to private sector projects that receive support from public entities in the form of below market leases or sales of property. WPPA will work to make sure that our ability to attract private sector partners is not damaged by such legislation.

Local Workforce Requirements: The building trades unions are likely to have as a high priority, requiring some level of usage of local labor in public works contracts.  WPPA will to watch any legislation to insure that it will allow ports to spend tax dollars judiciously in addressing the needs of their local taxpayers.

Oil Spill Prevention Funding: There is likely to be a proposal once again to address funding for oil spill response and prevention. What form that takes is yet to be known. WPPA will watch to see what emerges, and how it might affect our competitiveness.

Natural Resource Agency Consolidation:  Among ideas being discussed by the Governor’s office as a way to save some money, consolidating natural resource agencies may be proposed.  WPPA will monitor what, if any, impacts such consolidation would have on ports. 

ISSUES TO OPPOSE

 

Public Utility Tax Exemption: Currently carriers are charged a public utility tax in lieu of the B&O tax for intrastate trips (from one point in Washington to another). The tax is 1.8% of gross receipts for cargo moved by rail or motor carrier (1.28% for logs). However, shipments of commodities directly to a port for shipment outside the state are exempt from this tax. Also, interstate carriers are not subject to the tax on the instate portion of their transportation activities. A proposal was forwarded last legislative session to eliminate these exemptions, but the language was amended out of the bill. The JLARC (Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee) is recommending elimination of this exemption for consideration next year.

Property Tax Elimination:  At least one legislator has been raising the issue of eliminating or reducing property tax authority for special purpose districts, including port districts.  WPPA would oppose any limitations on the current authority of port districts to levy property taxes, which we use for critical job-creation and infrastructure investments.