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An environmental accelerator is established within the office to provide regulatory flexibility for salmon recovery and ecological resiliency projects and programs funded with climate commitment act revenue.
The director must appoint an administrator and assign staff to run the environmental accelerator. It is the intent of the legislature that administrative funds for the environmental accelerator be appropriated from climate commitment act auction revenue.
Any entity receiving funding for the primary purpose of salmon recovery and ecological resiliency from the climate investment account created in RCW 70A.65.250, the climate commitment account created in RCW 70A.65.260, the natural climate solutions account created in RCW 70A.65.270, or the air quality and health disparities improvement account created in RCW 70A.65.280 is automatically enrolled in the environmental accelerator.
The administrator must assist every entity in the environmental accelerator by:
Assisting the entity with identifying any regulatory barriers to successfully and efficiently implementing the project or program for which the entity received funding;
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Working with the relevant regulatory agency to see what, if any, regulatory relief may be granted to the entity by the regulatory agency;
Regulatory relief may be in the form of a waiver of state law or a waiver of a state rule for a trial period. The initial trial period may occur for up to five years and may be extended for the entity by a regulatory agency until the conclusion of the climate commitment act's compliance obligations for covered entities, as defined in RCW 70A.65.010; and
When regulatory relief is granted to an entity, providing notice to all entities in the environmental accelerator of this relief. The office shall maintain a registry of enrollees so that those who wish to be notified for request of relief by other entities can update their contact information.
Entities enrolled in the environmental accelerator may request regulatory relief, on a form to be prescribed by the administrator of the environmental accelerator, and the relevant agency shall consider and respond to the request within 60 days.
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The administrator or the relevant regulatory agency may rescind a grant of regulatory relief if:
The administrator or relevant regulatory agency determines the relief is no longer in the public interest; or
The program, project, or other qualifying grant has been terminated.
When rescinding regulatory relief, the administrator or the relevant regulatory agency must provide the entity that received the relief with a detailed explanation of the reason for the rescission.
The office must provide a progress report on the environmental accelerator to the appropriate committees of the legislature by January 1st annually. The report must include:
The number and type of entities requesting regulatory relief;
A review and summary of the types of regulatory relief requested;
The details of all regulatory relief granted by regulatory agencies;
Recommendations or considerations for amending state law or rules to provide permanent regulatory relief; and
Any other information that the department of commerce deems relevant and useful.
This section does not limit the authority of any regulatory agency to take any enforcement action, other than a civil penalty, authorized by law. This section does not limit a regulatory agency's authority to issue a civil penalty as authorized by law based upon a person's failure to comply with specific terms and conditions of any permit or license issued by the agency to that person.
If a regulatory agency determines that any part of this section is in conflict with federal law or program requirements, in conflict with federal requirements that are a prescribed condition to the allocation of federal funds to the state, or in conflict with the requirements for eligibility of employers in this state for federal unemployment tax credits, the conflicting part of this section is inoperative solely to the extent of the conflict. Any rules under this section must meet federal requirements that are a necessary condition to the receipt of federal funds by the state or the granting of federal unemployment tax credits to employers in this state.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
"Administrator" means the administrator of the environmental accelerator program.
"Director" means the director of the office of regulatory assistance.
"Ecological resiliency" means the ability of an ecosystem to withstand and recover from short and longterm impacts of climate change.
"Fully coordinated permit process" means a comprehensive coordinated permitting assistance approach supported by a written agreement between the project proponent, the office of regulatory assistance, and the agencies participating in the fully coordinated permit process.
"General coordination services" means services that bring interested parties together to explore opportunities for cooperation and to resolve conflicts. General coordination services may be provided as a stand-alone event or as an element of broader project assistance, nonproject-related interagency coordination, or policy and planning teamwork.
"Office" means the office of regulatory assistance established in RCW 43.42.010.
"Permit" means any permit, license, certificate, use authorization, or other form of governmental review or approval required in order to construct, expand, or operate a project in the state of Washington.
"Permit agency" means any state, local, or federal agency authorized by law to issue permits.
"Project" means any activity, the conduct of which requires a permit or permits from one or more permit agencies.
"Project proponent" means a citizen, business, or any entity applying for or seeking a permit or permits in the state of Washington.
"Project scoping" means the identification of relevant issues and information needs of a project proponent and the permitting agencies, and reaching a common understanding regarding the process, timing, and sequencing for obtaining applicable permits.
"Salmon recovery" means returning function, value, and access to salmon habitat to support healthy populations.
The joint committee shall conduct an evaluation of the implementation of the environmental accelerator as described in section 1 of this act and report to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2029, on the results of the evaluation.
The report must include recommendations on whether to continue the environmental accelerator in its existing form and any legislative changes that may be needed to improve the program. Specifically, the report must include a comparison of entities that received regulatory relief to similar entities that either did not request regulatory relief or did not receive regulatory relief.
This section expires January 1, 2031.