SB5329 – Updates Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council operations. (By request of the Site Evaluation Council.)
Prime Sponsor – Senator Nguyen (D, 34th District, White Center)
Current status – Referred to the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology. Passed out of the committee January 31st. Referred to Rules; placed on 2nd reading February 5th. Still in house of origin by 2019 cutoff; reintroduced and retained in present status for 2020 session.
Next step would be – Action by the Rules Committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
HB1332 is an identical companion bill in the House.

Summary –
The bill adds some language about the State’s need to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and increase its reliance on clean energy to the section of the code about its intentions, and says that the bill intends “to streamline application review for energy facilities that use alternative energy resources to meet the state’s energy goals.”

The Council would have its own staff, rather than relying on the UTC’s. The bill reduces its size, and would no longer add a member from an area where a project has been proposed during the time it’s reaching a decision about its recommendation to the Governor on that project. (Instead, there’s a member representing the Association of Washington Cities and one from the Washington State Association of Counties.) It adds a tribal representative.

After the environmental review of the project, the Council can hold a public hearing about whether or not genuine issues of fact on matters the council deems material to its recommendation exist. If it then decides there aren’t, and that the project is consistent and compliant with local land use requirements then it can skip the requirement for holding a formal adjudicative hearing under the Administrative Procedures Act, and proceed to make a recommendation.

Details –
The bill eliminates a member from DNR, and a number of optional memberships for various agencies, and it makes a number of small procedural changes expanding the Council’s discretion and powers.