Washington Administrative Code › Title 197 - Ecology, Department of (Environmental Policy, Council on) › Chapter 197-11 - SEPA rules › Part TEN - AGENCY COMPLIANCE › Section 197-11-904 - Agency SEPA procedures

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1) Each agency is
				required by the act and this section to adopt its own rules and procedures for
				implementing SEPA. (RCW    43.21C.120.) Agencies may revise
				or add to their SEPA procedures at any time. Agencies may adopt these rules
				(chapter 197-11 WAC) by reference, and shall meet the requirements of WAC
				197-11-906 concerning the content
				of their procedures. State and local rules for carrying out SEPA procedures are
				called "agency SEPA procedures."
(2)
				State agencies shall adopt or amend their procedures within one hundred eighty
				days of the effective date of this chapter or subsequent revisions, or within one
				hundred eighty days of the establishment of an agency, whichever shall occur
				later. State agencies shall adopt their procedures by rule making under the state
				Administrative Procedure Act,
				chapter
				34.05 RCW. If a state agency
				does not have rule making authority under
				chapter
				34.05 RCW, the agency shall
				adopt procedures under whatever authority it has, and public notice and
				opportunity for public comment shall be provided. Adoption shall be deemed to
				have taken place at the time the transmittal of adopted rules is filed with the
				code reviser.
(3) Local agencies
				shall adopt or amend their procedures within one hundred eighty days of the
				effective date of this chapter or subsequent revisions, or within one hundred
				eighty days of the establishment of the local governmental entity, whichever
				shall occur later. Local agencies shall adopt their procedures by rule,
				ordinance, or resolution, whichever is appropriate, to ensure that the procedures
				have the full force and effect of law. Public notice and opportunity for public
				comment shall be provided as part of the agency's process for adopting its SEPA
				procedures.
(4) Any agency
				determining that all actions it is authorized to take are exempt under Part Nine
				of these rules may adopt a statement to the effect that it has reviewed its
				authorized activities and found them all to be exempt under this chapter.
				Adoption of such a statement under the procedures in subsections (2) and (3)
				shall be deemed to be in compliance with the requirement that the agency adopt
				procedures under this chapter.
(5)
				The adoption of agency procedures is procedural and shall be categorically exempt
				under this chapter (WAC
				197-11-800(19)).
Statutory Authority:
					 RCW
					 43.21A.090,
					 chapter
					 43.21C RCW,
					 RCW
					 43.21C.035,
					 43.21C.037,
					 43.21C.038,
					 43.21C.0381,
					 43.21C.0382,
					 43.21C.0383,
					 43.21C.110,
					 43.21C.222. 03-16-067 (Order 02-12),
					 §
											197-11-904, filed 8/1/03, effective
					 9/1/03. Statutory Authority:
					 RCW
					    43.21C.110. 95-07-023 (Order 94-22), §
											197-11-904, filed 3/6/95, effective
					 4/6/95; 84-05-020 (Order DE 83-39), §
											197-11-904, filed 2/10/84,
					 effective 4/4/84.