Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Steve Wilhelm Staff
A flood of laws aimed at limiting the Port of Seattle's authority has dwindled to a pair of measures that appear likely to pass, and would force the port to follow recommendations made in a recent state audit.
Aggressive bills entered early in the legislative session, perhaps numbering as many as 30, proposed among other things stripping the port of its taxing authority and creating a Puget Sound regional port to replace the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.
They followed a state audit that found Port of Seattle staff didn't sufficiently inform the port commission about construction contracts, handed too much control to contractors and failed to follow their own contracting rules, creating potential for fraud and, by some accounting, wasting an estimated $97 million. The audit's findings, released in December, led the U.S. Attorney for Western Washington to launch a criminal investigation.
But the surviving bills are seen as less restrictive than the earlier proposals. SSHB 3274 essentially implements all of the recommendations in the state auditor's report
