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SB 6355 - Electric transmission system ¶

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Section 1 ¶

The legislature finds that Washington has committed to decarbonizing its electricity system so that it is carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon free by 2045. Achieving those goals includes retiring coal and gas resources, adding new generation from renewable and nonemitting resources, and leveraging energy storage technologies. At the same time, demand for electricity is increasing significantly due to the electrification of vehicles, home heating and cooling, and manufacturing, and the expansion of the information services sector in Washington. There are significant federal, state, and private investments in clean energy development, including wind, solar, and battery storage, that support decarbonization goals and supply new electrical load. However, Washington's existing transmission system lacks the capacity to accommodate the growing demand for clean electricity.
The legislature also finds that extreme weather events and changes to seasonal highs and lows puts new strain on the existing transmission system and threatens reliability. Extreme weather events and resulting conditions such as high-speed winds, floods, freezing, extreme heat, and drought, which could increase the risk of wildfire, can damage grid infrastructure and cause disruptions to the power supply. Warmer summers and colder winters increase the need for heating and cooling and thereby intensify and extend periods of peak demand.
The legislature further finds that to maintain reliability and build resilience, Washington's transmission system needs to be expanded and upgraded to access diverse portfolios of clean and reliable energy across the region, including solar resources in the southwest and wind resources across the mountain west. A more robust and updated transmission system will support affordability and reliability goals by enabling the efficient dispatch of least-cost resources across the region.
Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to create the Washington electric transmission authority to improve transmission reliability, resilience, and affordability. The Washington electric transmission authority will serve as a centralized body to achieve these goals by: providing development transmission services; coordinating siting and permitting; and engaging with utilities, transmission developers, local jurisdictions, state agencies, regional entities, the federal government, federally recognized Indian tribes, and affected communities. The legislature intends for the authority to achieve the following goals:
1. Improve reliability and resilience, including during extreme weather events;
2. Increase access to low-cost renewable energy;
3. Achieve clean electricity requirements and greenhouse gas emissions limits;
4. Encourage advanced transmission technologies that lower wildfire risks;
5. Support economic growth; and
6. Maintain affordable energy rates.

Section 2 ¶

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

"Authority" means the Washington electric transmission authority, operating at the direction of the board of directors.
"Board of directors" means the authority's board of directors.
"Consumer-owned utility" has the same meaning as in RCW 19.405.020.
"Department" means the department of commerce.
"Investor-owned utility" means a company owned by investors that meets the definition of "corporation" in RCW 80.04.010 and is engaged in distributing electricity to more than one retail electric customer in the state.
"Neighboring landowner" means a public or private landowner whose property: (a) Shares a property line or other physical boundary with a proposed or existing transmission corridor; or (b) includes an easement or other right-of-way for a proposed or existing transmission corridor that crosses a portion of the landowner's property.
"Nonwire alternative" means any electrical grid investment that is intended to defer or remove the need to construct or upgrade components of a transmission system.

Section 3 ¶

The department must identify high priority transmission corridors from those identified in the western transmission expansion coalition's west-wide transmission needs study 10-year horizon report published in February 2026. The department must also consider the 20-year horizon report planned to be published in 2026 when identifying high priority transmission corridors. This identification must be conducted in an open, transparent process by October 30, 2027. The department may not finalize the identification of high priority transmission corridors until the department has reviewed the western transmission expansion coalition's 20-year horizon report.
The department must consider the costs and benefits to Washington ratepayers when identifying high priority transmission corridors under subsection (1) of this section.
The department may contract with independent expert analysts to identify high priority transmission corridors under subsection (1) of this section.
The department must provide all administrative and staff support for and maintain oversight of the Washington electric transmission authority created under section 5 of this act until the board of directors hires an executive director as established under section 4 of this act.

Section 4 ¶

A board of directors must be appointed by January 1, 2027, to provide oversight and advise the authority on policies that are consistent with the purposes of this chapter. The board of directors must hire an executive director by June 30, 2027.
The 10 members of the board are as follows:
1. The director of the department, or the director's designee;
2. One member appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate with experience working at a consumer-owned utility, preferably with expertise in the transmission function;
3. One member appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate with experience working at an investor-owned utility, preferably with expertise in the transmission function;
4. One member appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate with expertise in rural county land use planning and law and local permitting processes;
5. One member appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate with expertise in clean energy development;
6. One member appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate with expertise in ratepayer protection;
7. One member appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate representing electrical workers with expertise in building electric transmission;
8. One member appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate with expertise in financing large infrastructure projects;
  1. One member appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate with expertise in wildlife conservation and land use policies; and
9. One member appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate from a federally recognized Indian tribe, including federally recognized Indian tribes whose reservation or ceded lands lie in Washington state.
One or more members of the board appointed by the governor must have expertise with the Bonneville power administration's transmission service.
At least one-half of the members of the board must reside east of the crest of the Cascade mountains.
No member of the board may represent a person that owns or operates electric generating or transmission facilities.
Members of the board appointed by the governor must serve four-year terms. However, the governor must stagger the terms of six of the initial appointees for terms of one, two, and three years. At the end of the term, these members may be reappointed by the governor and reconfirmed by the senate, or the governor may choose to appoint a new member.
Decisions of the board require a simple majority vote of all the members on the board.
Members of the board must elect a chair from among its membership to serve for a two-year period.
The board must meet at least quarterly.
The department must provide administrative and staff support to the board until the executive director is hired.
Members of the board must serve without additional compensation but must be reimbursed for travel expenses as provided by RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.
The board of directors is considered a governing body for purposes of chapter 42.30 RCW and must follow the requirements of the open public meetings act, as they apply to governing bodies.

Section 5 ¶

The Washington electric transmission authority is hereby created as a public body. The authority is an instrumentality of the state exercising essential government functions related to electric transmission.
The priority of the authority is to maintain or improve the reliability of electric service to Washington customers by:
1. Supporting the expeditious and efficient expansion of new electric transmission capacity within the state that are prudent and needed to serve Washington customers;
2. Prioritizing partnerships for new electric transmission projects that meet at least one of the criteria: Increase access to grid connections for renewable resources and nonemitting electric generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, provide access to regional wholesale markets, are located in more than one electric utility service territory, or would not otherwise be built by Washington electric utilities;
3. Pursuing cost-effective nonwire alternatives to increase the capacity of existing electrical infrastructure;
4. Being a statewide resource for assisting with the development and coordination of upgrades to existing transmission lines including, but not limited to, reconductoring with advanced conductors;
5. Collaborating with electric utilities, independent transmission developers, local jurisdictions, federally recognized Indian tribes, labor unions, neighboring states, regional entities, and the federal government to develop intrastate, interstate, and regional transmission resources;
6. Evaluating opportunities for the authority to coordinate with regional wholesale markets as enabled by the respective market governance framework;
7. Supporting opportunities for community microgrids, distributed energy resources, and energy conservation; and
8. Supporting community and economic development.
To the greatest extent practicable, when carrying out its duties, the authority must seek to:
1. Protect cultural and natural resources;
2. Avoid impacts to overburdened communities and vulnerable populations;
3. Support good jobs;
4. Maximize the use of existing rights-of-way for transmission development, including on highways as defined in RCW 47.04.010;
5. Mitigate wildfire risk;
6. Consult in advance with all electric utilities that serve retail customers in areas where a project of the authority may be located; and
7. Coordinate with utilities that operate electric transmission facilities that would be affected by a project of the authority.
The authority must employ an executive director, who must be appointed by the board of directors created under section 4 of this act. The board may fix the compensation of the executive director. The executive director may employ staff sufficient to accomplish the purposes of this chapter.
The authority must update the transmission corridor identification study under section 3 of this act no later than October 30, 2032, and no less than every five years thereafter. The authority must update the study by leveraging existing transmission plans from national and regional entities, Washington utilities, and existing state, regional, and national siting studies in an open and transparent process.
The authority must charge and collect an application review fee of $5,000 to be submitted by each entity that applies for use of services provided under a partnership with the authority.
The authority must submit a report of its activities to the governor and to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2027, and annually every July 1st thereafter. The report must include operating and financial statements covering the operations of the authority for the previous fiscal year.
The authority and any eligible facilities acquired by the authority are not subject to the supervision, regulation, control, or jurisdiction of the Washington utilities and transportation commission, provided that nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted to allow an electrical company regulated under Title 80 RCW to include the cost of eligible facilities in its rate base without the approval of the Washington utilities and transportation commission.
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1. The authority must offer transmission service on facilities owned by the authority only under a transmission tariff administered by an entity jurisdictional to the federal energy regulatory commission as a public utility under the federal power act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 791a et seq., as it exists on the effective date of this section, and subject to the same terms and conditions applied to such entity by the federal energy regulatory commission, except for facilities under (b) of this subsection.
2. Transmission service on facilities owned by the authority that are subject to a partnership agreement with the Bonneville power administration, a utility serving customers in the state of Washington that is not a public utility under the federal power act, or a joint operating agency formed under RCW 43.52.360 may be offered under the same terms as the transmission tariff of that partner entity.
The primary mode for the authority to facilitate discrete transmission projects shall be through partnerships with transmission developers, including consumer-owned utilities and investor-owned utilities, on eligible projects in high priority transmission corridors. The authority may originate projects in the absence of such a partner only as a last resort and where such project does not interfere with or duplicate a project actively under development by a qualified transmission builder, as determined by the authority.
The authority shall make reasonable and diligent efforts to acquire property or an interest in property by negotiation prior to exercising the power of eminent domain under section 6(3) of this act.

Section 6 ¶

Without creating state debt, or lending the credit of the state, so long as otherwise authorized and not prohibited by law, the authority may:

Adopt rules and operating procedures as necessary to implement the authority's responsibilities in this chapter, except that the authority may not adopt rules to direct cost allocation of transmission resources;
Utilize the services of executive departments of the state upon mutually agreeable terms and conditions;
After receiving approval by the board of directors, exercise the power of eminent domain as outlined under the provisions of chapter 8.04 RCW only for land acquisition necessary to secure property or rights-of-way for new transmission corridors for public use consistent with the purposes of this chapter;
Enter into contracts and agreements;
Solicit, receive, issue, and expend gifts, grants, and donations;
Apply for and accept federal loans and related assistance;
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1. Enter into partnerships with public or private entities, which must include a fee schedule for services provided under a partnership; and
2. When entering into partnerships on transmission projects:
  1. Assist the project proponent in following the state environmental policy act process; and
  2. Support tribal consultation by pursuing reasonable efforts to facilitate government-to-government consultation regarding the entities' partnership with federally recognized Indian tribes affected by the partnership;
Lease, purchase, accept donations of, or otherwise own, hold, improve, or use any property;
Sell, lease, exchange, or otherwise dispose of any property;
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1. Own electric transmission equipment and systems;
2. Ownership of transmission facilities by the authority may not exceed the extent and duration necessary or useful to promote the public interest. Before becoming an owner or partial owner of any electric transmission facilities, the authority must develop and publish a plan identifying:
  1. The public purposes of the authority's ownership;
  2. The conditions that would make the authority's ownership no longer necessary for accomplishing those public purposes;
  3. A plan to divest the authority of ownership of the facility as soon as economically prudent once those conditions occur; and
  4. A consideration of the costs and benefits to Washington ratepayers of the facility;
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1. Select a qualified transmission builder or operator, as defined by the authority in rule, to build, finance, plan, acquire, maintain, or operate an electric transmission project;
2. Proceed to construction in the absence of selecting a qualified transmission builder only as a last resort and in instances where the authority identifies a pressing need for a project and there is not a ready and willing qualified transmission builder, subject to the authority adopting criteria in rule for such a scenario before developing a project;
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1. Sell a state-owned electric transmission project at any stage of development;
2. The authority may sell a project to an electric utility serving customers in the state of Washington, a joint operating agency formed under RCW 43.52.360, the Bonneville power administration, an independent transmission developer, or an independent system operator;
3. Before selling a project that is not part of a partnership agreement, the authority must adopt criteria in rule for developing a transparent process including issuing a competitive request for proposals, evaluating proposals, and selecting a project buyer;
When facilitating transmission projects, consult with other state agencies, subject matter experts, or neighboring landowners on natural hazards including, but not limited to, wildfire, and potential mitigation practices for such hazards including, but not limited to, upgrading transmission facilities with advanced transmission technologies, including reconductoring with advanced conductors;
In consultation with and after approval by the board of directors, adopt criteria in rule for an initial local investment commitment fee and annual local investment commitment fee for high voltage projects that the authority develops, owns, or sells under this chapter. Rule making will provide that the fees are distributed among counties, cities, towns, and federally recognized Indian tribes, including federally recognized Indian tribes whose reservation or ceded lands lie in Washington state, in proportion to the project's impact, and that the fees are appurtenant to the project such that the assessed fees are transferred with the title if the project is sold; and
Coordinate with the Washington economic development finance authority established under chapter 43.163 RCW to provide conduit financing for eligible partners that request transmission financing.

Section 7 ¶

The authority must, when selecting a qualified transmission builder or operator under section 6(11)(a) of this act, undertaking conduit financing through the Washington economic development finance authority while the authority is in partnership with the transmission builder or operator, or proceeding to construct a project in the absence of selecting a qualified transmission builder under section 6(11)(b) of this act, ensure that all construction and maintenance work is performed by either:
1. An electric utility, using qualified electrical employees; or
2. A contractor or independent transmission developer:
  1. Using qualified electrical employees; and
  2. Using apprentices enrolled in an apprenticeship program registered with the Washington state apprenticeship and training council established under chapter 49.04 RCW, with a completion rate of at least 25 percent over the prior eight years.
When selecting a qualified transmission builder or operator under section 6(11)(a) of this act, or when proceeding to construct a project in the absence of selecting a qualified transmission builder under section 6(11)(b) of this act, the authority must ensure that work is performed in compliance with the applicable prevailing wage provisions under chapter 39.12 RCW for the respective trade and occupation job classification.

Section 8 ¶

The department of commerce must contract with the governor's office of Indian affairs to, in coordination with the department of ecology and the department of commerce, convene federally recognized Indian tribes whose traditional lands and territories include parts of Washington state to develop a recommended tribal consultation framework applicable to statewide electric transmission planning and implementation including, but not limited to, activities associated with sections 3 through 7 of this act.
The tribal consultation framework must:
1. Identify the roles and responsibilities of state agencies engaged in electric transmission planning, siting, permitting, and implementation, and existing policies and any existing gaps regarding tribal consultation;
2. Establish standards for early, meaningful, and ongoing government-to-government consultation with federally recognized Indian tribes consistent with the 1989 centennial accord and applicable state and federal law as it relates to the activities conducted by the Washington electric transmission authority established in section 5 of this act;
3. Provide a mechanism for legislative engagement and transparency during the development and future implementation of the framework; and
4. Include recommendations for statutory, administrative, or budgetary actions necessary to implement the framework in future legislation.
The governor's office of Indian affairs, in coordination with the department of ecology and the department of commerce, must submit a report to the appropriate committees of the legislature and the governor by December 1, 2026, that summarizes the recommended tribal consultation framework and identifies proposed statutory or administrative changes.

Section 9 ¶

The electric transmission operating account is created in the state treasury. All receipts from appropriations made by the legislature, fees collected under sections 5 and 6 of this act, federal funds, or gifts or grants from the private sector or foundations and other sources must be deposited in the account. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used only for operating cost purposes consistent with this chapter.

Section 10 ¶

The electric transmission capital account is created in the state treasury. All moneys received for the acquisition, sale, management, and administration of the authority's duties under this chapter for electric transmission projects including, but not limited to, proceeds from the sale of land and/or improvements, fees collected for services provided to transmission developers, interest earned on investments in the account, and all other revenue related to electric transmission projects created or acquired pursuant to this chapter must be deposited into the account. The account is authorized to receive fund transfers and appropriations from the general fund, as well as gifts, grants, and endowments from public or private sources as may be made from time to time. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used by the executive director of the authority, or the executive director's designee, to reimburse management costs incurred by the authority on electric transmission projects, for the acquisition of interests in land or other real property to be managed as electric transmission projects, and for all other nonoperating cost purposes consistent with this chapter.

Section 11 ¶

Information obtained by the authority that is critical energy infrastructure information or proprietary technical or business information shall be confidential and not subject to inspection or disclosure pursuant to chapter 42.56 RCW.
For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
1. "Critical energy infrastructure" means existing and proposed systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, the incapacity or destruction of which would negatively affect security, economic security, public health or safety, or any combination of these matters.
2. "Critical energy infrastructure information" means specific engineering, vulnerability, or detailed design information about proposed or existing critical energy infrastructure that:
  1. Relates details about the production, generation, transportation, transmission, or distribution of energy;
  2. Could be useful to a person in planning an attack on critical energy infrastructure; and
  3. Does not simply give the general location of or relay publicly available information about the critical energy infrastructure.