PTBA governing bodies

AN ACT Relating to public transportation benefit area governing 1
bodies; amending RCW 36.57A.050; and creating a new section.2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature believes that governing 4
bodies of public transportation benefit areas should reflect the 5
communities that they serve. The legislature finds that these 6
governing bodies have included a nonvoting labor representative since 7
2010, and that these representatives have made valuable contributions 8
to the governing bodies and have effectively functioned as full 9
governing body members. Therefore, in order to recognize the value of 10
the labor representative's input and to ensure that public 11
transportation benefit areas work for and represent the communities 12
they serve, it is the intent of the legislature to make the labor 13
representative on public transportation benefit area governing bodies 14
a voting member.15
Sec. 2. RCW 36.57A.050 and 2025 c 230 s 1 are each amended to 16
read as follows: 17
(1)(a) Within 60 days of the establishment of the boundaries of 18
the public transportation benefit area the members of the county 19
legislative authority and the elected representative of each city 20
S-4117.1
SENATE BILL 6253
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators Krishnadasan, Conway, Dhingra, Hasegawa, Liias, Lovelett,
Nobles, Saldaña, Stanford, Valdez, and C. Wilson
Read first time 01/21/26. Referred to Committee on Transportation.
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within the area shall provide for the selection of the governing body 1
of such area, the public transportation benefit area authority ((, 2
which shall consist of elected officials )). The governing body shall 3
consist of elected officials and a member from a labor organization. 4
The elected officials shall be selected by and serving at the 5
pleasure of the governing bodies of component cities within the area 6
and the county legislative authority of each county within the area. 7
Two other transit-using members may be appointed to the governing 8
body of such area, pursuant to subsection (3)(b) of this section.9
(b) The elected official members of the governing body of the 10
public transportation benefit area, if the population of the county 11
in which the public transportation benefit area is located is more 12
than 400,000 and the county does not also contain a city with a 13
population of 75,000 or more operating a transit system pursuant to 14
chapter 35.95 RCW, must be selected to assure proportional 15
representation, based on population, of each of the component cities 16
located within the public transportation benefit area and the 17
unincorporated areas of the county located within the public 18
transportation benefit area, to the extent possible within the 19
restrictions placed on the size of the governing body of a public 20
transportation benefit area. If necessary to assure such proportional 21
representation, multiple cities may be represented by a single 22
elected official from one of the cities. A majority of the governing 23
board may not be selected to represent a single component city.24
(c) If at the time a public transportation benefit area authority 25
assumes the public transportation functions previously provided under 26
the interlocal cooperation act ( chapter 39.34 RCW) there are citizen 27
positions on the governing board of the transit system, those 28
positions may be retained as positions on the governing board of the 29
public transportation benefit area authority. 30
(2) Within such 60-day period, any city may by resolution of its 31
legislative body withdraw from participation in the public 32
transportation benefit area. The county legislative authority and 33
each city remaining in the public transportation benefit area may 34
disapprove and prevent the establishment of any governing body of a 35
public transportation benefit area if the composition thereof does 36
not meet its approval. 37
(3)(a) In no case shall the governing body of a single county 38
public transportation benefit area be greater than ((11)) 12 voting 39
members and in the case of a multicounty area, ((17)) 18 voting 40
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members. Those cities within the public transportation benefit area 1
and excluded from direct membership on the authority are hereby 2
authorized to designate a member of the authority who shall be 3
entitled to represent the interests of such city which is excluded 4
from direct membership on the authority. The legislative body of such 5
city shall notify the authority as to the determination of its 6
authorized representative on the authority. 7
(b)(i) In addition to the maximum of nine elected official voting 8
members of the governing body of a single county public 9
transportation benefit area or 15 elected official voting members of 10
the governing body, in the case of a multicounty area, there may be 11
two transit-using voting members appointed to each governing body by 12
the elected official voting members. Transit-using voting members may 13
not be employees of the transit agency operating under the public 14
transportation benefit area authority. 15
(ii) One transit-using voting member must primarily rely on 16
public transportation systems for transportation. 17
(iii) One transit-using voting member must represent a community-18
based organization and at least occasionally use public 19
transportation systems for transportation. If no such representative 20
in the public transportation benefit area's service area is available 21
to serve, the governing body must appoint a second transit-using 22
voting member who meets the requirements of (b)(ii) of this 23
subsection. 24
(iv) If transit-using voting members are appointed to a governing 25
body, meetings of the governing body must occur at a time and a place 26
that are reasonably accessible by transit, in order to facilitate the 27
participation of the transit-using voting members.28
(v) Transit-using voting members must be provided comprehensive 29
training regarding the open public meetings act established in 30
chapter 42.30 RCW, the public records act established in chapter 31
42.56 RCW, and chapter 42.23 RCW regarding ethics for municipal 32
officers, as soon as is reasonably practicable after the member's 33
appointment. 34
(vi) This subsection (3)(b) does not apply to any public 35
transportation benefit area authority where there are retained 36
citizen positions on the governing body, pursuant to subsection 37
(1)(c) of this section. 38
(c) ((There is one nonvoting )) The remaining member of the public 39
transportation benefit area authority ((. The nonvoting member is )) 40
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shall be recommended by the labor organization representing the 1
public transportation employees within the local public 2
transportation system. If the public transportation employees are 3
represented by more than one labor organization, all such labor 4
organizations shall select the ((nonvoting)) member by majority vote. 5
The ((nonvoting)) member shall comply with all governing bylaws and 6
policies of the authority. The chair or cochairs of the authority 7
shall exclude the ((nonvoting)) member from attending any executive 8
session held for the purpose of discussing negotiations with labor 9
organizations, issues between the employer and employees, 10
arbitration, and chief executive officer reviews . ((The chair or 11
cochairs may exclude the nonvoting member from attending any other 12
executive session. )) The requirement that a ((nonvoting member )) 13
representative from a labor organization be appointed to the 14
governing body of a public transportation benefit area authority does 15
not apply to an authority that has no employees represented by a 16
labor union. 17
(4)(a) Each member of the authority is eligible to be reimbursed 18
for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060 19
and to receive compensation, as set by the authority, in an amount 20
not to exceed $44 for each day during which the member attends 21
official meetings of the authority or performs prescribed duties 22
approved by the chair of the authority. Except that the authority 23
may, by resolution, increase the payment of per diem compensation to 24
each member from $44 up to $90 per day or portion of a day for actual 25
attendance at board meetings or for performance of other official 26
services or duties on behalf of the authority. In no event may a 27
member be compensated in any year for more than 75 days, except the 28
chair who may be paid compensation for not more than 100 days: 29
PROVIDED, That compensation shall not be paid to an elected official 30
or employee of federal, state, or local government who is receiving 31
regular full-time compensation from such government for attending 32
meetings and performing prescribed duties of the authority.33
(b) The dollar thresholds established in this section must be 34
adjusted for inflation by the office of financial management every 35
five years, beginning January 1, 2024, based upon changes in the 36
consumer price index during that time period. "Consumer price index" 37
means, for any calendar year, that year's annual average consumer 38
price index, for Washington state, for wage earners and clerical 39
workers, all items, compiled by the bureau of labor and statistics, 40
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United States department of labor. If the bureau of labor and 1
statistics develops more than one consumer price index for areas 2
within the state, the index covering the greatest number of people, 3
covering areas exclusively within the boundaries of the state, and 4
including all items shall be used for the adjustments for inflation 5
in this section. The office of financial management must calculate 6
the new dollar threshold and transmit it to the office of the code 7
reviser for publication in the Washington State Register at least one 8
month before the new dollar threshold is to take effect.9
(c) A person holding office as commissioner for two or more 10
special purpose districts shall receive only that per diem 11
compensation authorized for one of his or her commissioner positions 12
as compensation for attending an official meeting or conducting 13
official services or duties while representing more than one of his 14
or her districts. However, such commissioner may receive additional 15
per diem compensation if approved by resolution of all boards of the 16
affected commissions. 17
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