Title
AN ORDINANCE specifying eligibility for the walk and bike incentive program of the King County employee transportation program; and declaring an emergency.
Body
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 fo...

Click here for full text