EXECUTIVE ORDER  78-08

RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH MANAGEMENT

WHEREAS, it is the announced policy of this administration to effect a more efficient coordination between state and local governments in all areas and to be concerned specifically in the growth management process and in programs involving land use; and

WHEREAS, the conservation, management and wise use of environmental resources is jointly the responsibility of the state and local governments but the policies, programs and decisions of involved agencies and public policies and goals are sometimes in direct conflict; and

WHEREAS, the entire concept of the environment and its use and the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and adopted guidelines (WAG 197-10) together with the requirement for impact statements and various review process mandates closer attention by state agencies as it affects state and local planning and growth management; and

WHEREAS, it is the considered opinion of this administration that much can be accomplished under the present framework of existing laws and regulations to meet the many demands of an expanding economy and rapid growth without the necessity of creating a new bureaucracy.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Dixy Lee Ray, Governor of the State of Washington, do hereby direct as follows:

A. All state agencies possessing expertise in the field as defined by the SEPA guidelines (WAG 192-14-465) shall:

1. Provide, in a timely manner, substantive review comments to the appropriate lead agency on all draft environmental impact statements submitted to them for review.

2. A11 substantive review comments submitted by state agencies shall be fully considered in detail and evaluated in all final environmental impact statements completed by state agencies.

B. Every state department, commission, board, or other agency of state government which has responsibility for acquiring, approving, or expending state, federal, or non-state money, or selling, leasing, acquiring, or developing land, shall submit to the Planning and Community Affairs Agency the following information:

1. The purpose of the program or decision and the specific location of the project, setting forth the immediate and ongoing costs of the program or decision and the potential short-range and long-term impacts of the program or decision on population growth and the use of land; and

2. The compatibility of the program with local growth management policies, as expressed in comprehensive plans, and shoreline management programs. This information ray be provided as a separate document or as part of a proper declaration of nonsignificance or environmental impact statement (EIS) pursuant to the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

3. The Planning and Community Affairs Agency shall circulate copies of such information to all appropriate state agencies and all potentially affected local governments and special purpose units of government. When an environmental impact statement is not prepared and circulated, a period of 35 days will be allowed for review of the information required under B 1 and 2 before any firm commitments are made regarding decisions affecting population growth. Guidelines to implement this order shall be prepared jointly by the Planning and Community Affairs Agency and the Office of Financial Management.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set
my hand and caused the seal of the State of
Washington to be affixed at Olympia this
14th day of September A.D., Nineteen hundred and seventy-eight.

Dixy Lee Ray
Governor of Washington

BY THE GOVERNOR:



Secretary of State

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