In addition to the “bare-bones” transportation budget bills that were passed in the House and Senate last week, the House passed (by a vote of 93 to 1) a transportation regulatory reform bill (ESHB 1978) “that expedites the delivery of transportation projects through a streamlined approach to environmental decision making.”

ESHB 1978 “recognizes the opportunity to gain efficiencies by reducing duplication between national and state environmental policy act compliance for state transportation projects.”

The department of transportation would be required to use an “expedited environmental review and approval process for any transportation project requiring the preparation of an environmental impact statement under the national environmental policy act.” The steps are:

1. Public and agency involvement in defining the project purpose and scope of environmental review.
2. Identify participating agencies and convene meetings with an interdisciplinary team.
3. Participating agency involvement during the screening of project alternatives.
4. Participating agency involvement during the identification of environmental permits and other approvals, application procedures, and decision standards.
5. Complete an environmental analysis and issue a draft environmental impact statement (EIS).
6. Develop a final EIS.
7. Issue a final EIS.

It requires the department of transportation to “streamline the permitting process by developing and maintaining positive relationships with the regulatory agencies and the Indian tribes.” To do so, the department must continue a multiagency permit program to “provide early project coordination, expedited project review, project status updates, technical and regulatory guidance, and construction support.” The department must also “establish, implement, and maintain programmatic agreements and permits with federal and state agencies to expedite the process of ensuring compliance with several federal laws.

As we wrote in the Thrive Washington paper on regulatory reform,Confronting Washington State’s Overlapping Regulatory Structures, “It is important . . . to find regulatory reforms that will streamline or simplify processes while protecting environmental quality.”