RCW 43.52B.030: Authority created—Duties.

(1) 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.

(2) The priority of the authority is to maintain or improve the reliability of electric service to Washington customers by:

(a) Supporting the expeditious and efficient expansion of new electric transmission capacity within the state that are prudent and needed to serve Washington customers;

(b) 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;

(c) Pursuing cost-effective nonwire alternatives to increase the capacity of existing electrical infrastructure;

(d) 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;

(e) 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;

(f) Evaluating opportunities for the authority to coordinate with regional wholesale markets as enabled by the respective market governance framework;

(g) Supporting opportunities for community microgrids, distributed energy resources, and energy conservation; and

(h) Supporting community and economic development.

(3) To the greatest extent practicable, when carrying out its duties, the authority must seek to:

(a) Protect cultural and natural resources;

(b) Avoid impacts to overburdened communities and vulnerable populations;

(c) Support good jobs;

(d) Maximize the use of existing rights-of-way for transmission development, including on highways as defined in RCW 47.04.010;

(e) Mitigate wildfire risk;

(f) Consult in advance with all electric utilities that serve retail customers in areas where a project of the authority may be located; and

(g) Coordinate with utilities that operate electric transmission facilities that would be affected by a project of the authority.

(4) The authority must employ an executive director, who must be appointed by the board of directors created under RCW 43.52B.020. The board may fix the compensation of the executive director. The executive director may employ staff sufficient to accomplish the purposes of this chapter.

(5) The authority must update the transmission corridor identification study under RCW 43.21F.800 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.

(6) 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.

(7) 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.

(8) 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.

(9)(a) 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 June 11, 2026, 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.

(b) 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.

(10) 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.

(11) 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 RCW 43.52B.040(3).