Office of Regulatory Assistance Sunset Review

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Office of Regulatory Assistance Sunset Review

• Preliminary Report
• Presented by Karen Barrett
• Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee
• November 29, 2006

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The Sunset Act Frames This Study

• A sunset review is an evaluation of the continued
  need for a program to exist and is triggered when
  the Legislature adds an agency to Chapter 43.131
  RCW.
• The Office of Regulatory Assistance (ORA) is
  scheduled to expire July 1, 2007, unless
  legislative action is taken to sustain it.
• Under the Sunset Act, an evaluation assignment
  falls to JLARC the calendar year prior to that
  decision. This mandate is the subject of todays
  report.

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and Todays Report
Guided by Sunset Act evaluation criteria, we
report back the degree to which we found ORA has

• Complied with legislative intent (statutory
  directives)
• Reached its own performance goals and targets
  (front-end data plan)
• Operates in an efficient and economical manner
  (delivery of environmental services)
• Undertakes activities otherwise duplicated by
  another state agency or the private sector

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About the Office of Regulatory Assistance
STUDYBACKGROUND

• The Offices historic role has been to assist
  those who apply for environmental permits
• Help scope projects, facilitate pre-application
  conferences and upon request coordinate
  environmental reviews that span federal, tribal,
  state and local authorities.
• May include behind-the-scenes work on matters
  that arise in permitting which make it difficult
  for either government or applicants to proceed.

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About the Office of Regulatory Assistance
STUDYBACKGROUND

• Regulatory mission is broader today due to
  actions of the 2003 and 2006 Legislatures.
• Exists as a single place to understand how
  rule-making, regulations, and requirements could
  apply in particular circumstances
• Given new budget-driven improvement tasks
  reinforced by Executive Order (06-02)
• Additional duties are in progress and not the
  focus of JLARCs Sunset Review.

See page 3 of the report, and Appendix 3 for
details.
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Additional Background JLARC Sunset Review Focus
is ORA Execution of Statutory Duties

• Approaching 2,000 callers a year

• Assisted 88 projects during the study period of
  July 2002 through July 2006

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1. ORA can demonstrate compliance with some, but
not all ten duties in statute.
STATUTORYCOMPLIANCE

• Compliance Demonstrated
• Maintain a help desk, handbook, and web site
• Develop a range of permit assistance options to
  benefit project applicants
• Review certain transportation permitting
  initiatives to determine if beneficial for other
  types of projects
• Develop informal processes for dispute resolution
  
• Validate projects qualify for expedited,
  coordinated appeals before State Hearings Board

ORA has a responsibility to provide links to
agency rules and this presents coordination
challenges. See JLARC comments on page 5 of the
report.
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Review of Duties (continued)
STATUTORYCOMPLIANCE

• Partial Compliance
• Facilitate and scope projects for project
  applicants (all required elements 60-days)
• Coordinate processing of permits upon request
  (identifying functions performed)
• Conduct customer surveys to gauge effectiveness
  (help desk but not facilitation)

See JLARC comments in Table 1, pages 5-7 of the
report.
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Review of Duties (continued)
STATUTORYCOMPLIANCE

• Out of Compliance
• Coordinate implementation of voluntary
  cost-reimbursed permitting agreements
• Provide biennial reports documenting
• ORA performed services and customer satisfaction
• Avoidable statutory or regulatory conflicts
  encountered and
• Agencies use of outside consultants to perform
  tasks executing voluntary cost-reimbursed
  permitting agreements.

See JLARC comments in Table 1, pages 5-7 of the
report.
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2. ORA conducts its activities and the public has
increasingly made use of this service
PERFORMANCETARGETS
See page 8 of the report for fully noted exhibits
on this and the next slide.
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but quality and outcomes not measured.
PERFORMANCETARGETS
The finding here mirrors what weve said about
ORA ability to demonstrate compliance. The
agency has not been investing adequate time to
centrally record and track information necessary
to convey outcomes for its efforts.
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3. Workload-to-cost trend is positive but unable
to make a definitive statement about efficiency
OPERATIONALEFFICIENCY

• Compared with its workload over the four year
  study period, we found costs per service unit
  declining.
• Not possible to determine if the quality of
  service clients have been receiving remained the
  same or changed with time (see page 9 of the
  report).

Estimates of cost per open project are case
sensitive to ORA involvement that is periodic and
episodic over the permit process.
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4. ORA doesnt appear to duplicate activities of
other departments or private sector agents.
ACTIVITYDUPLICATION

• ORA services are presently available statewide
  for a wide range of projects.
• Agencies or applicants could hire private sector
  contractors, but the perspective changes.
• ORAs duty is to ensure the process to reach
  decisions does not stall for lack of constructive
  communication or vital information.
• ORA regional leads remain neutral and hold
  no stake in the permitting outcome.

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Conclusions

• ORA can demonstrate it fully or partially
  complied with eight out of ten statutory duties
  as assigned.
• Performance data shows the public has
  increasingly used this discretionary service.
  However, we cannot yet evaluate the Offices
  efficiency.
• ORA has been doing its work but has not invested
  adequate time to record and track sufficient
  details and outcomes.
• JLARC does not have evidence indicating ORA
  duplicates others activities. Some stakeholders
  report ORA adds value to the process.

See page 11 of the report.
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JLARC Recommends

• The Legislature should repeal the June 30, 2007,
  sunset date (Chapter 43.131 RCW) which has the
  effect of reauthorizing ORA, and consider
  establishing a future sunset review in 2011.
• ORA should develop an implementation plan by next
  March to remedy the agencys lack of information
  about its activities, and report to the
  Legislature on the results of this plan by June
  2008 to demonstrate its performance and
  compliance with statutory duties.

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Contact Information

• Karen Barrett, JLARC Analyst
• 360-786-5181
• barrett.karen_at_leg.wa.gov