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AN ORDINANCE specifying eligibility for the walk and bike incentive program of the King County employee transportation program; and declaring an emergency.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. The King County council adopted Motion 9679 on October 9, 1995, approving a plan for a transportation and commute trip reduction ("CTR") program for King County worksites.
2. The Employee Transportation Plan ("ETP") attached to Motion 9679 was intended to change the commute behavior of county employees and maintain the county's leadership in implementing the state Commute Trip Reduction Act and Growth Management Act.
3. Section VII of the ETP provides that "The County should provide a voucher to employees who commute to work outside the Seattle CBD [central business district] by carpooling, bicycling or walking. This program supports compliance with CTR at County sites with limited or no transit service. It is not applied in the Seattle CBD because transit service is readily available to most employees."
4. The Seattle central business district ("CBD") consists of the area from Elliott Bay on the west to the Interstate 5 freeway on the east, and from Denny Way on the north south to the southerly boundary of the Pioneer Square Historic District.
5. Section X of the ETP acknowledges that "King County is legally required to bargain over benefits and conditions of employment" and provides a recommended collective bargaining approach for negotiating the walk and bike incentive with the unions representing King County employees at worksites outside the Seattle CBD.
6. On September 15, 2008, the executive announced an expansion of the ETP with a walk and bike incentive program for King County employees at worksites in downtown Seattle, an area that includes the Seattle CBD.
7. According to the executive's announcement, beginning October 1, 2008, all King County employees, including those at downtown worksites, became eligible to receive a twenty-dollar incentive for every month in which they either walk or ride a non-motorized bicycle for more than fifty percent of their work trips.
8. The executive has not reported on the results of, or proposed an update to, the 1995 ETP. Also, the executive has not proposed an approach to bargaining with the unions representing King County employees at downtown worksites as employee commute trip reduction programs evolve.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Finding: The council finds that this ordinance must be effective immediately to prevent expenditures beyond those authorized as county policy in the adopted Employee Transportation Plan.
SECTION 2. The King County employee transportation program's carpool, bike and walk incentive shall not apply to county employees who commute to worksites in the Seattle central business district until the executive has transmitted proposed revisions to the adopted Employee Transportation Plan that incorporate any proposed new program elements to address the overall commute patterns of King County employees and any revisions have been approved by ordinance. The Employee Transportation Plan update shall be transmitted by January 31, 2009.
SECTION 3. This county council finds as a fact and declares that an emergency exists and that this ordinance is necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace,
health or safety or for the support of county government and its existing public institutions.