In an interesting twist, Governor Inslee’s request bills to restructure and achieve administrative efficiencies within the Growth Management Hearings Board (GMHB) have taken very different forms in the House and the Senate.
The problem statement from the Governor’s office has been that a reduced caseload does not justify seven full-time members serving on the GMHB; yet the cases filed are more complicated, and they overburdened the attorney board members compared to the other members. The bill also makes some back-end administrative changes to save money.
HB 2802 reduces the number of members on the GMHB from seven to five, three of which would be full-time attorneys and hailing from each region: Central Puget Sound, Western Washington, and Eastern Washington. The other two members would be appointed on a rotating basis from a pool nominated by AWC and the Washington Association of Counties. Importantly, the partisan balance requirement for the board is eliminated. HB 2802 is sponsored by Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D–Burien).
The Senate version, SB 6574, heard January 30, makes no changes to the GMHB membership. The bill only contains administrative efficiencies. SB 6574 is sponsored by Sen. Dean Takko (D–Longview).
As a mildly interesting historical fact, this is the first time this author has ever seen two different Governor-request bills on the same topic. You see something new every day.
If you have thoughts on either version of these bills, please provide them to Shannon.
Date to remember
HB 2802 is scheduled for public hearing in the House Environment & Energy Committee at 3:30 pm on Tuesday, February 4.